All for One, One for All
by General Texas
Summary: Even heroes need a little help, even if they won't admit or accept it. With a demon-boy, a human tornado, a modern Viking, and a walking tank, this young team of Huntsmen doesn't seem to fit the 'hero' bill, though. It's like the Musketeer montra: all for one, and one for all. Right? Rated T for alcohol, violence, death, etc.
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING: The first part of this chapter is written in the mind of a young child, about 3 to 5 years old. This entire part will cover dark themes, including death, murder, bloodshed, torture, and the darker side of the human mind. Reader discretion is advised.**

* * *

All for One, One for All

Part 1: What We've Become

Chapter 1: We Carry On

* * *

The past few minutes were a blur to him. One moment he was playing inside, and the next thing he knew some people started taking some strange things and breaking down the front door. His father ran to the box he was told never to open and grabbed two large silver knife-things with long thin cans running down the dull parts.

"Rouge," his father addressed his mother. "Take Solis and run. I'll hold them off as long as I can."

His mother did just that, scooping him up in her arms and darting out the back door. The young boy was terrified, for sure, but that terror was undermined by confusion. He was far too young to understand what was going on.

Seconds later, the sounds of wood splintering and loud thunder-like explosions caught his ears, and he suddenly had the feeling that he wouldn't be seeing his father again any time soon. His mother kept running, but neither of the two surviving family members knew of her fatal mistake: she left the back door wide open and ran in a straight line. One more explosion sound and his mother screamed in agony. Her grip on the young child loosened dramatically, and he tumbled to the green grassy ground in a painful manner. Both of his parents had been killed by these strange people, and now they were undoubtedly after him. He knew he should be running as fast as he could, but he was just too dazed and in shock from his parents' deaths to move.

Footsteps came closer and closer to him as he lay there in shock. They weren't like those of Grimm, thankfully, but whatever they belonged to couldn't have been friendly. A pistol rammed another round home, and a boot clamped down on his back; no force could save him now.

A gunshot rang throughout the green field, echoing into the forest beyond. No one heard the killing blow for miles, as the house was out near the dangerous, Grimm-infested wilderness. No one but the Grimm, and the killer doubted any Grimm would attack them.

A lone Beowolf was nearby, sniffing for something to hunt, when it heard the gunshots ring out. Unlike most Grimm, this creature had yellow eyes, dark red fur, and coal black bones. Its veins glowed bright yellow like its eyes. Perhaps most unusual of all was the fact that despite being near the small home and its massive proportions, it never once attacked anyone. No blood stained its pearly white teeth. Dark red vapors seemed to emanate from its red fur.

Its head snapped in the direction of the gunshots, and worry shone in its eyes as it charged in that general direction. Once near the edge of the forest, looking out to the green prairie and large country house, its forehead seemed to wrinkle up in anger. With a loud roar and a burst of red flames around the creature's body, it charged the attackers: a group of Dark Huntsmen, guardians who let the darkness within them take control of their bodies.

Things turned weird right off the bat as the Dark Huntsmen fired at the red Grimm – it seemed to vaporize in a cloud of similarly-colored smoke and came out as a man with yellow eyes, well-tanned skin, black spikes protruding from the knuckles on his hands, and a strange attire matching the fur he just abandoned. Flying at the Dark Huntsman who killed the child, he spun around in mid-air, dodging the bullets with ease before his knuckles tore through metal, leather, and soft flesh. His victim cried out in agony as the attacker pulled his bladed joints out of his body and hurled him at his fellow Dark Huntsmen. While the Dark Huntsmen had the Grimm-man outnumbered 6 to one, said man clearly outmatched these young, inexperienced Dark Huntsmen. He knew he'd gotten lucky, but he made a vow to defend this family.

Sure enough, the terrified murderers bolted away, and more young men and women appeared out of the forest.

"Are they gone," asked one of the young men, this one in a ghostly blue. The older man in red, the one who charged the Dark Huntsmen, nodded. "You really got lucky there, Ryce. You know how dangerous those guys are."

"We got lucky, that's all," responded Ryce, "Those were just rookies; had they been more mature, they wouldn't have gone down so easily. Then again, I did catch them off-guard: they expected no Grimm, but they got a Grimlock."

"Learn from your elders, Lunaes," chuckled one of the less mature auburn-clad men, causing the moon-white man to glare at him.

"I think the more important question is why," pondered Flumen, a blue-turquoise wearing woman. "Not only did they pull such a risky move on Ryce's patrol, but they even went after the boy. Speaking of whom."

"He's gone," muttered Lunaes. "Gunshot through the chest, tore through the heart. Damage is irrepairable. Even if we could somehow, he's lost too much blood. Poor kid, can't have been more than three years old."

"Have some more faith, Lunaes," Flumen scolded him. "There's always a way, even after death."

"B-but, but—."

Lunaes had no time to respond before Ryce pushed him out of the way and knelt before the dead child. He placed a hand on the boy's body and chuckled.

"You truly do have no faith, young man," the elderly Ryce spoke cryptically. "Of course he has no Aura, the darker part in him has grown too strong. Fear does do that to you right before death." With that, he formed a white ball of light the size of a golf ball in the palm of his hand and laid the orb to rest on the dead body. The ball sunk into the flesh without destroying his body; in fact, the orb seemed to heal the wounds from the pistol shot. A cough and a sputter later, and the boy was back to life, leaving Lunaes in total shock.

"I don't believe it," said the apalled young man. Ryce smiled as he picked up the sleeping child, having sent him to sleep with his Semblance.

"Told you so," came the response. "Besides, I had to try. This is my grandson we're talking about."

"Wait, that's Solis?!"

"Hush. He needs the rest; recovering from a bullet wound is a long process, you know."

* * *

Two years after the attack on my life, I was only around 6 or so, and my Grandfather had decided to tell me everything finally. He'd brought me to his house deeper in the forest, way up on a mountain, after the attack. He called me in this one day and told me to sit down.

"Solis," he began. "Do you know the story of this forest?"

"Well," I racked my memory. I came up empty. "I dunno." Grandpa chuckled.

"Do you know about the Grimlock?"

I shook my head.

"Well, it started many years ago, back before I was born. These people learned how to harness both the light and the dark sides of their Auras and manifested them in Grimm-like forms, as well as superhuman abilities and senses they called Instinct. It was a way to call harmony within themselves."

"Why are you telling me this, Grandpa?"

"Well, those legends are true; I'm a Grimlock myself."

At the time, I didn't really believe him. In fact, I imagined his story to be just that: a story. Boy, did he prove me wrong. In a tornado of red smoke, Grandpa went from gray-haired farmer to 10-foot-tall red Beowolf with yellow eyes, black bones, and yellow veins. Red and black smoke seemed to rise from its body before solidifying into long, graying fur. I felt a powerful presence of darkness from within the creature, but my grandfather's soothing presence was still there.

* * *

Ventus wasn't the strongest kid on the block. He wasn't the smartest, he wasn't the quickest, and he certainly wasn't the most powerful boy on the block. But he didn't want to be known as any of that. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do.

Knowing his impossible persistence, he was bound to push his limits. Even to him, though, it was a huge surprise: at five years old, he wasn't supposed to find his Semblance yet.

His father was an alcoholic, a heavy drinker. Every day when he came home, he would reek of the pungent odors of whiskey and beer. His hair would be disheveled, as with his clothing, and sometimes he would ramble incoherently. The alcohol did something to him, making him ten times more violent than he used to be; he would snap like a twig at the smallest of things like the bar owners kicking him out for drinking too much. His wife would constantly berate him on how he's gotten too violent because of this 'drinking game' he had going on, but it had no effect. Ventus's father wouldn't stop drinking, he wouldn't stop coming home angry, and he wouldn't stop punishing his son for his own crimes.

Today was the breaking point for the young boy. He'd kept the pain and anger bottled up for far too long. Ventus's father Dan came in like a charging rhinoceros and threw his briefcase at the little boy. Ventus caught the leather box, thrown slightly back by the weight and speed of the case. Dan kicked his son to the side, throwing his small body across the room. Those two were strikes one and two, and all it took was one more incident and Ventus would snap quicker than lightning.

When Ventus reached that breaking point, Dan had thrown a glass bottle filled with strong whiskey at the little boy for so much as walking into the room. The glass shattered, cutting the boy and burning him with the alcohol. The last straw had been pulled, and Ventus wasn't going to let anything torture him again.

A strong wind picked up in the house. Dan became angry at this, thinking someone left a window open; he marched over to his son and tried to kick down the boy for his own amusement. A strong wind pushed him back into the kitchen island, which surprised him beyond all belief. No wind had ever gotten that strong, not even in Vale; of course, this only angered Dan even more, as the alcohol had that effect on him.

Ventus was now glaring at his father, having had enough of the abuse. Dan again went to kick him, which only earned him another gust of wind in his face. Dan had no clue who or what was causing the wind, but he didn't really care. Third time's the charm, he went to kick his son a third time. This time, a strong vortex picked him up, spun him around violently, and hurled him at the cabinetry filled with beer bottles.

Now Dan understood who was causing the powerful winds, and it terrified him to know what was going on. Ventus had unlocked his Semblance in a surge of anger, and was using it to stop the violence. The little boy was now hovering three feet off the ground, papers and other random household objects flying in a vortex beneath and around him. The wind rivaled that of an F2 tornado, depressurizing the air around the house while cooling it off violently simultaneously. The cyclone started to dissipate, then picked up even stronger when Ventus opened his eyes. His single silver eye was glowing a bright white while his blue one shone a violent sky blue. His entire body was glowing a sharp cloud gray, which seemed to produce a light mist and fed it into the spinning winds.

The entire event only lasted 30 seconds, tops. The cyclone died, ending with Ventus collapsing in exhaustion from such an output. All of it pushed Dan to take alcohol rehabilitation classes, starting with a promise to never repeat the incident again.

* * *

 **End**

 **A/N: How did everyone feel about that? I decided to make a story about semi-normal kids instead of super-powerful beings of mass destruction. I mean, sure Jaune may become a little OP, but with good reason instead of the 'dual semblances' thing I had going with another fic I'm still continuing. Maybe Ventus is a little OP right now, but it will all make more sense in a later Part (yes, I'm making numerous parts to this story). Same goes with Solis and the Grimlocks.**

 **Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Requests? Be sure to leave me a review or PM me. Enjoy reading? Favorite the story so you don't miss out. Texas out.**


	2. Chapter 2

All for One, One for All

Part 1: What We've Become

Chapter 2: Coming Back

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Six years after I lost it all, Grandpa decided it was time for me to train with him. I learned so much since he first told me about the Grimlocks: the color of fur signifies which emotion is strongest and, therefore, which element one is best able to control with Instinct. Instinct is the manipulation of one's Aura to enhance his/her strengths and abilities. Grandpa predicted that I would be red like him should I train to be a Grimlock.

Now, at age thirteen, I've only now been taught how to manipulate the darker side of my Aura. Despite having been at it for weeks now, I'm still just a beginner. I haven't even been able to summon fur or bone yet.

Kids were taunting me about how, despite being the grandson of the most powerful Grimlock of modern day, I was too weak to summon my own fur and the like. That really grated on my nerves, though I just pushed it to the side.

Someone mentioned me being a failure and how my parents would hate me, and I lost it. I was pissed, and I wasn't afraid to show it. My entire body began glowing a furious yellow, seeming to grow yellow fur and white bone. The lightshow was intense, but the main selling point were my eyes, which emitted a constant red glow. The veins on the white bone were redder than my eyes. All-in-all, I looked like a normal Beowolf with bleached fur.

The only reason I knew any of that was because I was no longer myself. My perspective was now on the outside of my body instead of at my eyes. I felt the same terror in the eyes of those people I frightened, yet my body wouldn't show it. I was afraid for their lives, as I had no clue just how powerful this monster I'd became was.

Thankfully, that transformation really took it out of me, because the beast turned back into a human boy with sandy-blond hair and bright hazel eyes. My vision returned to normal, and I collapsed on the floor, tired as ever. All I could really hope for was to not pass out as I laid there, huffing and puffing like I'd just ran a marathon.

* * *

Ventus was eleven when he broke yet another barrier. He met someone by the name of Ben, a fifteen-year-old whose Semblance gave him the ability to run at supersonic speeds. The two became best of friends after a while, as both were capable of essentially creating a powerful vortex rather quickly. The day before, Ventus had asked Ben why he used his Semblance all the time instead of conserving his Aura.

"Well, there's a couple of reasons for that," Ben had said. "Firstly, let's get something straight: everyone wants me to walk calmly, to be 'normal' like them. I run because I want to be me, not be 'normal'. Let me ask you something: if everyone were 'normal', would life be very fun or worthwhile? No, it wouldn't; that's why I run.

"Ever since I can remember, I've been pushed around," he continued. "My parents and brothers didn't want me running around everywhere, so every single time I ran, they would push me around. I ran, they punished me. I wasn't 'perfect', they'd punish me. I did anything they didn't like, I'd be lucky if my punishment wasn't getting hounded by Dad. But I didn't let that stop me from running; in fact, it kinda gave me a reason to run even more.

"I push myself to be even faster than the day before nowadays, not because I'm a rebel, but because I want to be remembered for something. I want to be known as the kid who taught his generation to push for what they want, not to make everyone happy. I run for the adventure of doing what I want. I push myself because I want to be remembered for doing what I want and beyond."

Ventus and Ben joked around a bit longer before night fell, and the two went home. Today, Ben made it out of Signal and applied for Beacon. An attack on his life from White Fang terrorists had him hospitalized, and the doctors warned him that he couldn't run anymore.

In an attempt to remember his friend's words, Ventus went out and ran for a while. Before long, he was at the edge of Vale, jogging through the forest beyond the city's limits. That was one of the biggest mistakes yet greatest triumphs of his life, especially when he ran into the Beowolf pack.

The young boy ran as fast as he could. He could head the pack closing in, so he tried creating a vortex to protect himself and speed him up. This tactic didn't help his situation, as the Beowolves ran just as fast as he did. It seemed as though they were hunting for sport, toying with him before going in for the kill.

Ben's words echoed through his mind as he ran through his options. Those words clicked somewhere, formulating a plan instantly. Turning quickly, Ventus summoned as much wind as he could with his Semblance. He figured it wasn't enough, so he pushed his limits as far as he could and hoped he could break through.

The pressure was impossible when he released it all. Instead of sending Ventus flying towards the pack, the wind exploded around him in the biggest vortex he'd ever created. His strongest cyclone to this point equated to an F2 tornado with extra wind and force, but this one was even stronger; this was so strong that it could've been mistaken for a weak hurricane. Ventus was in awe as the spinning mass of air tore through the Beowolves like a hot knife through melting butter; the weakest hurricanes in Vale were about as powerful as F4 tornadoes, and this one was right between a weak hurricane and a strong tornado.

Despite the power outburst, Ventus felt more alive than ever. He should've been totally knocked out from the output, but he felt far more powerful than the vortex he'd just created. He went home and told his parents what he did that night, and they brushed it off as a strange coincidence or him gaining 'negative Aura'. He turned to Ben the next day, and he was met with a smile.

"Seems like you just pushed your limits," assumed Ben. "Maybe you pushed so far that the winds power you like they do for me. Pretty funny how that works, huh?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. I wish I'd been there. Would've been pretty cool, no doubt. Too bad I'm stuck here reading comics and watching TV hooked up to IV's and monitors galore. Doctors said I should be out in a few weeks, told me not to run anymore, but I think I should be able to in a few months, as soon as my legs and muscles heal."

"Alright, take care," I told him. "Be more careful around those terrorists." Ben laughed at this.

"I'll be sure to run faster than the bullets next time," he joked. He gave me a thumbs up and winked at me. "Take care, Vennie."

"For the last time, quit calling me Vennie," I complained.

"Well, it kinda fits you," argued Ben.

"Well, how would you like it if I called you Bennie?"

"Hmm, not bad. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, the ladies will love it all over." I rolled my eyes and waved goodbye. In the meantime, I secretly decided to keep the new nickname Ben had given me.

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 **End**

 **A/N: This one was a little short, I get it, but I feel it's kind of hard to find good plot points to go over. This next chapter will cover some pretty violent topics, so get your Kleenexes ready and your teddy bears at your side (when it comes out, of course). Fair warning, this entire Part won't last long: it's only going to be exposition, really. Pretty much going over the pasts of our primary two main characters.**

 **Like the story and don't wanna miss out? Favorite the story (or follow, I don't know which does which yet). Questions, comments, suggestions? Review or send me a PM. I'm open for suggestions. I'll see you all next chapter, Texas out.**


	3. Chapter 3

All for One, One for All

Part 1: What We've Become

Chapter 3: All is Lost Again

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By the time he was 16, Solis was already more powerful than most Grimlock his age; he'd managed to overpower Flumen's student Vulcan and overpower Alpine, Lunaes's best student. His own grandfather had three or four other students under his wing outside of Solis. Solis had started feeling something for one of the blondes training under Ryce, the blue-eyed Aurora, which Ryce and Lunaes always toyed with him about.

At this time, Solis was a towering 6-foot-2, with strands of red striping his yellow hair. He was able to lift almost 10 times as much as an Ursa could, nearly 10 metric tons of pure titanium-steel alloy. His hair was longer too, about a foot long and combed into spikes at the back. He managed to forge two barbed steel knuckles for close combat, which he stitched into a pair of gray gloves; as well as the two-pronged knuckles, he always had a shotgun fit for slugs in case he needed some longer range. He usually wore a silver necklace to remember those he lost over the years, whose beads were larger at the center and shrunk towards the outside, fitting snugly against his collarbone. He wore an armored red jacket with yellow highlights, a pair of black cargo pants, and red boots with a white buckle strapped over. His hazel eyes were starting to turn a bright shade of red nowadays, and he was starting to grow stubble more often.

He never thought that the Dark Huntsmen that took his parents would ever attack the mountainside abode he now lived in, but that's exactly what happened. The sixteen-year-old had just finished a training session when the whole residence heard a deep rumbling sound and went dead silent. Everyone thought it was a nearby avalanche, but Solis had a feeling it was something else, something unnatural. He inched closer to his fellow students just in case. That was when disaster struck.

A cesium rocket burst in through a window and struck the floor, exploding upon contact with the cold oxygen. Red-hot shrapnel flew everywhere, sending everyone either to the floor, to the wall, or to heaven. Among those killed was Flumen and Lunaes, who took the blunt of the shrapnel for their students and minimizing their wounds. Alpine and Vulcan were peppered with shrapnel, but came out relatively unscathed. Solis tore himself off of the wall and prayed that it was over. Boy, was he proven wrong.

Two cesium rockets exploded, tearing apart the outer wall and destroying the support structure. Not only did the mountain-house start sliding, but an avalanche started falling above them. Ryce shouted for everyone to grab hold of something and get to cover, but his command was cut short when a cesium ballistic tore through the roof of the falling building and exploded upon hitting the floor. A majority of the Grimlocks were killed in the explosion, whether it be from the explosion itself, landing at the base of the mountain a little too hard, or the avalanche following close behind.

After picking himself up off of the rocky ground, Solis looked for other survivors. Among the bodies found were a few fellow students, the young girl Alpine's sister Tabitha, and Ryce himself. A tear rolled down Solis's face as he continued searching among the scorched and torn remains when he heard a light cough from a familiar voice. Panic set in as Solis searched frantically for Aurora, digging through the rubble so he could get to her.

One last large stone flew into the forest when Solis found a gruesome sight. Aurora was bleeding from a head wound, pierced in multiple places by still-hot shrapnel, and battered badly from getting caught in the avalanche. She was breathing, but barely; tears rolled down her ashen face as she felt the full effect of the broken bones, burning shrapnel, and numerous cuts and scrapes. Perhaps most painful of all to see was the stone piercing her through the stomach; the bloody spike had torn through her spine, broken several ribs, and skewered a number of internal organs. She was losing blood and fast from multiple wounds, which pained Solis much to see his friend in such a condition.

Aurora died five minutes after Solis found her, her head in his lap, holding his right hand as he stroked her singed hair with his left. Her last words were telling Solis that she loved him, through a painful, shaky breath. Solis cried after her death for nearly three hours straight before something snapped in him. He carved several symbols and letters into his necklace, then inscribed on his shotgun's barrel the following: "Sacrifice will not go unremembered. Remember the fallen: Aurora, Ryce, Flumen, Tabitha. Never forget, April 24, 3201."

After inscribing on the rifle, Solis let go of his light side and activated his Instinct. His hair permanently changed to red, and his eye color turned a violent dark red. The numerous cuts and scrapes lining his body turned into scars, never to go away. His personality went from passively aggressive to permanently violent as he sniffed the air for the scent of Dark Huntsmen. He found his target and, without even looking, pointed his rifle and fired. A puff of blood replaced a head, and a body tumbled down the mountain. Several gunshots rang out, bullets flew at Solis, and all bounced off like he was a concrete wall.

The shotgun glowed a violent red, shining brightest from within the barrel and along the inscriptions. Solis pulled the trigger once more, and a red bolt of light flew from out of the barrel; he missed the Dark Huntsmen, but the explosion certainly got the message across. The light inside of Solis was practically gone, and he was hungry for vengeance.

* * *

By now, Ventus was 14 and still going strong. By now, Ventus could create a hurricane strong enough to uproot an entire forest, fly on a small tornado, and had even built his own weapons: twin Dust-filled whips capable of shrinking/hardening into twin katanas, named Vortex and Cyclone. Ben had finally healed up and was now on his third year at Beacon. He was part of Team EBNY (Ebony), and had actually gotten over the Fang attacking him. Ventus, on the other hand, was still having issues with that. Like just now.

A team of Faunus extremists broke into his family's home and slaughtered everyone inside. Well, almost everyone; upon seeing his Liaison and single Silver Eye, they decided to brand him instead of killing him.

Funny how heat works: it doesn't mix well with the cold. The Fang member trying to brand him learned this the hard way as the red-hot iron cooled off violently and shattered upon Ventus blowing on it. The poor Bulldog Faunus was in total shock at this while Ventus just cackled like a villain.

The Fang finally decided to tattoo him instead. The artist had just finished the Fang insignia when he accidentally spilled ink all over his artwork. He tried wiping it off with a cloth, but only succeeded in making a tornado-shaped smudge. He tried using a knife to scrape off excess ink, managing to cut Ventus in multiple spots around the tattoo and making the tornado design even worse. Now the Fang insignia looked more like a blue tornado breaking out of a red bubble.

After the numerous incidents and a violent beating, the criminals left his home. Ventus snuck out through the locked door, breaking it off its hinges, and caused such a violent F5 tornado that the terrorists' guns broke open and released their Dust cartridges. The winds activated the Dust, causing the tornado to start hurling flaming stone and ice shards. Lightning sparked within the vortex, further terrifying the villains. The Fang ran like the raging winds and scattered, realizing that any attempt at battle would only result in instantaneous defeat. Afterwards, Ventus gave his parents a proper burial; in the meantime, he thought about what happened with the Dust and came up with a way to use that to his advantage.

* * *

 **End**

 **A/N: That took a bit of doing. Keep in mind that these characters aren't OP in any way (well, they are but they aren't). I gave both introduced OC's some sad backstories, but one of them was able to get past it without unleashing his darker side. Poor Solis, I kinda feel sorry for him; I'm just torturing the poor guy.**

 **So, I have the demon and the tornado out of the way. Now comes the two others, the tricky ones: the modern Viking and the walking tank. Get ready to be amazed with the new team to Beacon. Currently, we are two years before the beginning of Vol. 1. Leave a review or PM me if you have any questions, requests, or otherwise. I'll see you all next chapter. Texas out.**


	4. Chapter 4

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 4: Here We Come

* * *

Jaune Arc wasn't the toughest kid out there. His Aura was still locked at 17 years old, and his sword and shield made him look like some kind of knight sent to the modern era. He didn't even have a formal education; getting invited to Beacon by Headmaster Ozpin himself, therefore, was a huge shocker to him. Jaune hated lying, and yet he said on his transcripts that he'd already unlocked his Aura but had yet to find his Semblance. He did this so he wouldn't get treated like a weakling, but he felt like he was too late for that. His best bet for surviving in this school was his hand-to-hand combat experience and his strange temper that seems to come out of nowhere.

He boarded the airship to Beacon and swallowed the lump in his throat. There were three things he hated in this world: bullies, liars, and planes of any kind. He hated being high up in the air on a moving object; he got his motion sickness from his father. He hoped that this trip wouldn't take too long.

When the airship took off, Jaune got down on the ground and started doing pushups in an attempt to ignore the feeling in his stomach. Of course, this only made it worse, making him dizzier than he was than when he got on.

"Try looking up at the clouds," said a Scottish voice. Jaune followed the voice's advice, and sure enough it worked. "Motion sickness, eh? Gets to me, too. Nasty perk to have. The name's Thor, by the way."

"Jaune Arc," Jaune responded. "You sound Sco-aah!" Jaune shrieked upon seeing the Dwarf for the first time. Dwarves had dense bones and muscles but short spines, which made getting around more difficult. Thor, on the other hand, looked like he was taller than most Dwarves, standing 5-foot-8. He still looked about as muscular as a normal Dwarf, but he looked like a tall Dwarf. "Y-you're a Dwarf." Thor burst out laughing at this.

"What, did you think I was a Dragon," Thor finally got out. "Of course I'm a Dwarf. And you look like a Centurion." Jaune cocked his head to the side and gave a confused sound.

"How do I look like a Centurion," Jaune asked.

"You know, Arc," Thor explained. "Blond hair, blue eyes, kinda skinny. Bad temper, I'm guessing. Locked Aura, consistent set of morals. It's easy for me to see it because I've seen it before."

"O-okay, but for all you know I could _not_ be a Centurion." Thor bobbed his head side to side, possibly agreeing with the statement. "Besides, I don't even know what a Centurion is, much less what an Aura is." The Dwarf doubled over as if Jaune had just punched him in the gut.

"Wait, WHAT?! You—ach, who in their right mind doesn't know what Aura is?" Jaune pointed at himself. "Besides for you, that is."

"Look, all I know is that I've never needed it until now. I've always made do with hand-to-hand and quick reflexes."

"And how do you heal yourself," Thor questioned.

"Err, time? First aid, patience, a bit of pain in some cases." Thor's jaw dropped. He pulled himself together a few seconds later and muttered something about 'crazy Centurions', shaking his head.

"How do people do it," cried a young man about a year or two older than Jaune with red hair, darker red eyes, a black-striped red armored shirt, black pants, and a white ivory necklace with strange engravings. His tan skin was more of an olive color at this point as he stumbled across the airship.

"Look at the clouds," Thor suggested.

"Tried that," returned the boy.

"Push-ups," Jaune mentioned.

"And that."

"Try unfocusing yourself," said a 16-year-old with blue-streaked silver hair, a silver jacket with blue sleeves, a light blue t-shirt, silver cargo shorts with blue pockets, and blue sneakers with white socks. The only strange bit about him outside of his age was the fact that he was hovering about six inches above the ground, appearing to ride a chair-sized cyclone with his eyes closed. "You literally don't have to do anything: just stop thinking and you'll be good."

The redhead tried this and apparently found it effective, as his face returned to its original state. It didn't last long, though; not ten seconds passed before his tan skin turned fire-red, leaving him to start smoking out the ears and nose.

"On second thought, maybe I should just get myself some water," he muttered, leaning against the railing; seconds later, it started glowing red from the heat, leaving both Jaune and Thor perplexed.

About a gallon of water splashed the hothead in the face; though the source was unidentifiable, the red-haired boy was apparently not amused with the cyclone-riding teen, who was smiling like he'd just made some dumb joke.

"While that felt great," said the redhead in a threatening tone, "I swear to God, if you do that again I will make sure to beat you silly when we get off the ship."

"Bring it, hothead," the silver-haired boy smiled, literally asking for a fight at this point. The enraged man was just about to catch fire when he fizzled out and rolled his eyes.

"My name's Solis," Solis corrected the other. "Get that through your thick skull."

"Ventus," Ventus returned. "And I don't have a thick skull, Bonehead. I just don't use anything up there."

"What's that make you, an airhead," Solis demanded, which made Ventus's smile even bigger.

"Exactly, Bonfire."

" _Quit calling me names!_ Call me _Solis_. So-lis. SOLIS! Get that through your hard skull, Airhead."

"You know, you don't exactly sound like your name," Ventus commented. "Solace means finding comfort in hard times, yet you're quite literally smoking through the ears."

"No, not solace, s-o-l-a-c-e! Solis, S-o-l-i-s. It's a derivative of the Latin term meaning 'Sun'. My name literally means 'sun', not 'peace'. Good God, get it straight."

"Quit your arguing, lassies," Thor grumbled. "You're both pretty, so shut up."

Neither one stopped, driving Jaune more and more towards the rage he hated so much. Finally, Jaune had had enough and let it all out.

" _SHUT YOUR TRAPS_ ," Jaune shouted with a much darker tone to his voice. Solis turned to snap at the blonde, immediately shrinking down at what he saw; Ventus had a blindfold on, and was scrunching up his forehead as if that would help him see. Jaune's complexion didn't change much, but his eyes showed everything: all the colors in the balls inverted except for the pupils, leaving him with an orange iris and bright blue pupils on a black background. The orange in his eyes seemed to radiate fire in its purest form.

"Wait, what's going on," Ventus pondered aloud. Solis tore off the blindfold while trying not to look Jaune in the eye, revealing a Liaison with one silver and one blue eye. Thor's head seemed to explode before he collapsed with excitement. Ventus whistled in awe. "I'm guessing we blew his mind, right?"

"Err, I'm calling a truce," Solis muttered to Ventus quietly. "Jaune? Remind me never to piss you off."

Jaune's eyes reverted back to normal, leaving him shaking his head and blank-minded. He remembered nothing of what happened, not even from an outside perspective.

"I've never seen a Centurion in action," mumbled Thor. "And I not only saw that but a Silver-eye Liaison? Oh, it's got to be my birthday." All the three young adults could do was stand there and stare at the strange Dwarf as if he'd lost his marbles.

"And how old is this guy," Ventus asked as he used the vortex to push himself up before dispersing it.

"He's acting like a child," Solis mentioned. "He's got to be fifteen."

"I'm twenty-two," Thor said as he picked himself up off the floor. Solis's mind blew up this time, and he fell to the ground like a tower.

"And there he goes," Ventus commented. "Congrats. Who's next?"

"You're weird," Thor and Jaune both stated simply.

"No, I'm the wind." To prove this, he marched over to the nearest open window and leaped out. The three other young men darted over to the window to try to find Ventus.

"Well," Thor deadpanned after finding nothing, "he's dea—SONOFA!"

Ventus was outside, not falling but flying, at speed with the airship through dense clouds, as if it were nothing. Jaune tried to imagine what it would be like to fly without aid. The thought got to him, and he passed out from acrophobia.

* * *

Two minutes later, Jaune woke up to being carried out over someone's shoulder. He saw the familiar clothes of a comic book character and jerked awake. He accidentally pummeled Thor in the nether regions with a sneaker and rolled out of the Dwarf's collapse. He dusted himself off quickly and reacted violently upon hearing a nearby explosion.

Five seconds and a short sprint later, Jaune found a young redhead with silver eyes being ranted at by a snobby-sounding white-haired girl wearing mostly white. Apparently the explosion involved some breed of Dust. Jaune decided to butt in when he heard pissy words being thrown about.

"Woah, whoa, hang on just a minute here," Jaune cut the white-haired girl off as he stepped between the two girls. "First off, what happened here? Secondly, can we somehow reach an agreement before things happen?"

"Stay out of this, Blondie," came the snarky response.

"Can't we all just agree to disagree and get over this like nothing happened? It's Dust, I can smell it; it's not strong enough to throw you around unless you weigh, like, 50 pounds."

"I said stay out of this," again with the snark. Jaune was starting to feel the rage again, and if it came he would try to remember everything.

"And I said calm down," said he in a diplomatic tone. "Let's reserve punches for bad guys and Grimm, okay?"

"And just who do you think you are, telling me what to do? I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. So unless you're some general's son, I suggest you step out of this."

"I'm not a general's son," Jaune admitted. "But I'm certainly more diplomatic than most. So why don't we try to _not_ kill each other over a simple sneeze. Besides, now that I see it all, this wouldn't have happened had you not been shaking that Dust vial around."

Weiss stammered a little bit, obviously flustered and in denial of the truth that just came out of Jaune's mouth. Weiss had just turned around when Jaune got smacked upside the head with the same Dust vial Weiss lost. The redhead giggled at both Weiss's loss for words and Jaune's misfortune, causing both to glare at her.

"And just what are you laughing at," Weiss demanded.

"I don't think she would be if a half-full Dust vial hit her in the head," Jaune mumbled. He bent over, grabbed the vial, and handed it over to the heiress, all while rubbing his head where it hit him. Weiss snatched it out of his hands and marched over to wherever they were supposed to go.

"FOOOOORRRE," an echo called, obviously delayed. This made the redhead laugh even harder.

"If only I didn't have a mark for in the morning," he rubbed his head before walking off in the same direction that the heiress did. While walking, he tried to recall what happened when he unleashed his anger on the airship. All he could recall was blackness, but eventually he could see the airship. He was making progress, now all he needed to know was what happened to cause the temporary amnesia.

* * *

Ventus was the one who threw the Dust vial, having narrowly dodged and caught the thing. Since Jaune was there, he figured the blond would catch it if he forewarned him. He tried, but he apparently forgot about the delay when he yelled too loud. The vial smacked the young Knight in the head, followed shortly by the echo of Ventus's warning. The wind warrior would've found it funny had Jaune not been smacked into a bad mood as he had been. The blond walked away to where the white-haired girl went, leaving the redhead all alone. He heard her calling out for Jaune to wait up, and she started to follow him but stopped when she realized the knight wasn't stopping for anyone. Ventus made his move to make a new friend.

"Sorry 'bout that," Ventus apologized. "I tend to screw things up when I try to help out." He held out a hand to help the redhead up. "Name's Ventus, by the way."

"Ruby," the girl introduced herself as he pulled her up. "Hey, aren't you that kid who jumped out of the plane and started flying?"

"That's me," Ventus nodded. "My Semblance is Vortex; it allows me to summon a vortex or any kind of wind or cloud and use it to my advantage. I recently learned how to manipulate Dust in a cyclone, and before that I learned how to recharge my Aura with the wind." Ruby's jaw dropped.

"Wow. I take it you don't need any weapons?"

"Oh, no. I use 'em anyways, though. Twin steel-joint whips charged with mixed dust for ease of use." He pulled them out. "Hurricane and Typhoon. That's their names. Made 'em myself." Ruby loomed over the twins and gave Ventus a pleading look. He smiled and let her look them over. In the meantime, he was able to get a good look at her eyes. Both were silver like his one, but he sensed a similar power in hers.

"Wow. These are so cool." She gave the weapons back. "Well, I've got this." She pulled out her own weapon, a 6-foot sniper-scythe that could transform into a simple red box. He whistled.

"How long did it take you to build it?" She smiled at him.

"Two weeks." Ventus almost died of laughter.

"You and I are so similar! I built mine in a handful of hours." She giggled after realizing that he wasn't laughing at her.

"Hey, you have a Liaison," she discovered. His smile dropped.

"Yep," he said simply. He almost immediately looked away, remembering all the pain he went through because of it.

"What's the matter? Don't you like having a Liaison?"

"Well, yeah. It's just… I've gone through a lot of pain, been made fun of for it. Doesn't mean I don't use it, but I… I just don't fit in anywhere."

"Yikes." The two started walking to the auditorium, Ventus using the wind to guide him and Ruby following mindlessly. "You know, a lot of kids have made fun of my silver eyes." Ventus gave her a funny look.

"Hey, I like 'em. If they don't, that's fine; they can gouge their own out. So long as you like 'em, it's fine by me. Don't change what doesn't need to be changed."

This made Ruby smile, and there was silence for the rest of the walk. Ventus heard a blonde call Ruby over, making him assume that they were somehow related. He made sure no one was paying attention for maximum reaction, then created a vortex and flew up with it. He crossed his arms and toned down the vortex, replacing it with a dense patch of wind for him to stand on. He normally did this so he could actually see the speaker(s). This year was going to be fun, he could just tell.

 **End**

* * *

 **A/N: How about that. Jaune has a crazy temper and even crazier power that doesn't even need Aura, we've met another OC, and already we've seen a conflict between Ventus and Solis. Tell me what you guys think. I'll see you all next chapter. Texas, out.**


	5. Chapter 5

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 5: Old Memories

* * *

After the big speech by Ozpin, most of which Solis had a hard time listening to, the other professor who he didn't really care that much about ushered the first-years to the ballroom. While everyone else got settled down and/or explored the campus, Solis sat down and reminisced on the pain he'd endured over the past 18 years.

Within 5 minutes of sitting down on the wooden bench, memories of Aurora came flooding his mind. He remembered the time when she had some nightmare and woke up on one of his restless nights; he'd managed to get her to tell him about it, made her relax, and she'd asked if she could sleep with him that night. Then there was the time when he was hit so hard he fell _upstairs_ , which ended up with him running into her and causing the both of them to tumble back downstairs; neither which one of them was able to stop laughing for five straight minutes. He could still feel the places she'd touched him during one of the several balls they went to for undercover assignments. He remembered her smile, her smooth voice, her ivory skin, and her beautiful blue eyes.

Her death was the one that brought him back to reality. He saw the blood pouring out of her body, the tears stinging her cut face, the jagged spikes tearing through her abdomen, and the heartbreaking things she said before she breathed her last.

" _Solis_ ," she'd said, " _please don't forget me. And for the love of God, don't ever lose yourself. I don't want to see you with me just yet._ "

To this day, he never forgot his best friend. He remembered her every day since her death, and kept going just for her. He never stopped hunting the Dark Huntsmen either, as it seemed to be the only thing that sedated his fury.

Memories of death, pain, and fear haunted his dreams, and the crimes he'd stopped replayed in his mind as if he were never there. The bloodshed kept him awake at nights. The one thing that haunted him the most, though, was the day he lost everything and gave up the lighter part of his Aura.

"What's up," a high-pitched masculine voice brought him out of his memories. He turned to see a blond boy wearing an armored hoodie and blue jeans covered with armor plates.

"Oh," Solis muttered. "Hey, Jaune."

"I know something's wrong, Solis," Jaune muttered before clearing his throat. "What is it?"

"I, uh… I'd rather not talk about it."

"It's about my sister, isn't it," he asked. Solis raised an eyebrow. "My twin sister was a Grimlock, you know. Her name was Aurora. Killed a couple of years ago in an avalanche; some terrorists gave these 'Dark Huntsmen' guys some RPG's and pretty much blew the whole place to Hell and back. I hear you were a good friend of hers."

"Yeah, I was." Solis paused, running over what Jaune said. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"It's classified intel," Jaune informed him, but proceeded to pull out some form of datapad. "But you deserve to see this. It'll help explain some things. If you have any issues understanding, you and I would be on the same page."

He activated the datapad and played the video pre-downloaded on the device. A man in digital camouflage with the insignia of a first lieutenant appeared on the screen. His hair was cropped short, and he stood in front of a strange flag with five stars and stripes.

"Greetings, Mr. Arc," the man said. "I am First Lieutenant James Kiser, founder of the Delta Force Mars Internal Project. The Mars Internal Project, or MIP for short, is an international project designed to put soldiers among citizens in the Kingdoms, namely Vale and Vacuo. You were the best in class, yet we decided to put you in Beacon to give you proper leadership skills and the opportunity to unlock your currently-locked Aura."

The video changed to a camera feed of Jaune, dressed in a digital camouflage combat uniform, in combat with a massive drone. The machine swatted Jaune into a wall, which Jaune arose from with moderate difficulty. The blond wiped his bleeding mouth and unleashed some sort of anger; his eye color inverted and he grew some sort of glowing tentacles which Solis assumed were supposed to be wings. Jaune held up a hand, which was immediately engulfed in fire, and sent out a red-hot wave of fire at the machine; two seconds later, Jaune let up, revealing a puddle of bubbling metal and plastics.

"That was your strange power, Captain," the LT continued. "You have the power of a mythical being called a 'Centurion', the son of a Fallen Angel and a normal Human or Faunus. You naturally have a bad temper, so we tried to give you a way to control your 'Centurion State'. If you're watching this, it means that the memory serum we gave you affects long-term memories instead of short-term memories and your temperament. This video was created to help you remember what you were involved in.

"Two years ago, we received intel that terrorists had given Fallen or Dark Huntsmen military-grade weapons. You were assigned to retrieve those weapons before they could be used, but we sent you out too late. The weapons were used to take out a Grimlock living and training facility, leaving numerous casualties including your sister Aurora. You managed to take down the weapons providers while an enraged Grimlock known as Solis Occasum took out the Dark Huntsmen. If he is nearby, please show him this video as well.

"You were sent to Beacon with four weapons: a Magnum-22 pistol with Dust, rubber, and steel bullets; an MK-48 assault rifle with Dust, rubber, and steel bullets; a sword designed to ignite with Roman Fire hot enough to melt steel; and a shield designed to act as sheath and secondary blade. The sword and shield can combine and transform into two weapons: a riot shield capable of stopping a bunker buster; and a Riot Cannon capable of firing steel bullets at 550 rpm, Dust rounds at 450 rpm, and Riot Shells at semi-auto. These Riot Shells can pierce through tank armor, as well as act like a small pack of C4.

"Take care, Captain, and good luck." The video ended, leaving Jaune still somewhat perplexed. Solis was a bit confused, but mostly in awe that Jaune had actual military experience.

"Well, that sure explains why you went all crazy back there," Solis commented. Jaune nodded before scratching the base of his neck. "OH, that reminds me! Have you heard of that green guy? The one that grows the more he gets mad? He tries to control it in the comics, and remains 'always angry'. Try doing that, it's a good idea. It'll control that 'Sentry' deal you've got going."

"Centurion," corrected Thor from somewhere in the ballroom. "And by the way: I TOLD YOU SO!" Thor ran away giggling like a schoolgirl, leaving Solis scratching his head in confusion and Jaune holding his head, shaking uncontrollably. Jaune couldn't stop laughing at this 'Dwarf' fellow simply because of his fan-girly actions.

* * *

By the time Ventus came in, he was sweating and laughing with Ruby. They had just finished a race of some sort, and Ruby seemed to be the victor.

"Someday, Rose," Ventus huffed as he wiped his brow with his shirt. "I'll manage to keep up with you someday." This led Ruby to cackle as if he'd just told her some crumby joke.

"Not any time soon, Tempest," she taunted. He rolled his eyes at this remark and made his way to his small area. He grabbed a towel, his sleepwear, and everything he would need to take a shower, then proceeded to the bathrooms/showers. Not thirty seconds later, he came back out looking as if he'd just taken a quick swim in soapy water and rinsed himself off. Jaune, Solis, and Thor, who were all in the same area, just stared at Ventus as he waltzed out wearing a gray air force shirt, sky blue shorts, and drying his hair with a towel.

"Dear Lord," Solis muttered in awe. "How long was that, thirty seconds?" Jaune checked a stopwatch he pulled from his duffel bag and nodded. "Yeah, thirty seconds. No one showers that fast, how'd you do it?"

"Jaune knows," Ventus said simply. "Gotta go fast, right?"

Jaune nodded. The guys took turns taking showers, Solis first, then Thor and finally Jaune. Solis came out wearing black shorts and a towel draped across his right shoulder. Thor walked out wearing his shirt decorated with a demonic-looking Leprechaun with a guitar and the title "Irish Metal" on it, a pair of baggy-looking cargo shorts, and his towel wrapped around his arm as if hiding a tattoo. Jaune exited the stall wearing a white t-shirt and army camo pants, towel draped across his shoulders.

They spent the next thirty minutes cleaning their weapons. Thor detached the 4-foot handle from his Battle-axe Warhammer hybrid and started cleaning the inside, re-polarizing two magnets at the far end of the handle in the process. Solis disassembled his shotgun and cleaned every part, putting it back together with care, and twirled it around in the air with a strange pride. Jaune took apart the Magnum, cleaned the parts, reassembled it, and slipped a clip full of Dust rounds into the weapon; he then started working on his sword and shield. Ventus, with no need to clean his whips, just refilled the Dust canisters in the hilt of the weapons and rewound them. He then crossed them over his shoulders and sat down, resting against a pillar in the ballroom.

Ventus was able to see everything from his vantage point. Ruby was writing something down and not really paying any mind to anyone or anything. Her sister Yang was eyeing Solis's rifle with curiosity and envy, starting to drool a little when he twirled it in the air and caught it with one hand; she blushed when he caught her staring and drooling, and he did not seem amused in the slightest. There was a dark-haired girl reading a book in the corner, a silver-haired girl putting on some last-minute makeup before shut-eye, and a tall brown-haired girl was watching Thor with longing eyes. It made Ventus wonder who that girl was before she walked over to Thor and gave him a bear hug.

"Hey, Thor," she said with a slightly Russian accent. He blushed and whispered something in her ear.

"Who's this," Solis asked Thor, gesturing to the girl.

"Oh, this lass," Thor asked. "This is Nadiya, a long-time friend of mine."

"What, are you two related or something," came another question from Solis, whose reward was an elbow to the ribcage from Jaune. "What?! It's a legitimate question."

"Well," Nadiya chuckled, cheeks turning a faint rose red. "I guess you could say that."

"Brother and sister?"

"Not exactly," Thor answered. "I'm Thor Lochlannach, she's Nadiya Luchnik."

"Cousins?"

"We only met about ten years ago," Nadiya mentioned.

"Labor camp," Thor added. "She was an old-school mercenary, I was just a POW."

"Distant relatives," Solis suggested.

"I'm half Dwarf, she's a Russian Elf," Thor almost snapped. Jaune and Ventus raised an eyebrow.

"Really distant relatives?" Ventus groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, as did Thor. Nadiya rolled her eyes and pulled out her necklace which Ventus had failed to notice before under her dark dress-like pajamas. The necklace had on it a gold plaque and a ring; the plaque had engravings in some strange languages with weird accents and symbols, neither of which Ventus was very fluent in. In fact, it all looked blurred to him.

"What's it say," Ventus asked, squinting to make out any visible English.

"I believe it reads 'From Russia to Northland, Love is Boundless' in Russian," Jaune read. "And 'From Now to the End of Time it Stands' in Gaelic. It seems to be an Elven engagement necklace. The ring is forged with gold, silver, and a small trace of Dwarven Steel. It seems to me that she's been engaged to someone."

Thor pulled out a necklace of his own with the same plaque and ring on it. The writing was the same on both plaques.

"Well, I'll be damned," Solis commented. Ventus was indefinitely confused, scrunching his eyebrows as if to try to read the languages.

"What's it mean," Ventus asked, making Jaune and Solis turn to him as if he'd lost his mind. Thor and Nadiya looked at one another like they were concerned for the Wind Mage. "No seriously, I can't read English well, much less stick-people languages."

"Dyslexic, I'm guessing," Nadiya suggested.

"And I'm not bilingual, but yes I am dyslexic. But… why? And how'd you know that?"

"Tell you later, lad," Thor said. "Back to the dominant question, we're technically engaged in modern cultures but already married in our respective cultures. It's complicated, but all-in-all we're together forever in a sense."

"Aww," came two voices outside of the group. Turning to see, Jaune and Ventus noted that they were Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, swooning over the idea that two lovers came to the same school together.

"Wait a sec," Ruby pondered aloud. "How are you two already engaged? You just started training at Beacon." Solis pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Because her parents forced us to," Thor said with minor hesitation.

"Really," Nadiya challenged. "I thought it was your parents who forced us?"

"Well, mine were gone, but I suppose they did work through your parents. Besides, we did agree to it eventually." Nadiya giggled.

"That, we did," she agreed.

"I'm so confused," Ruby complained, whimpering as she held her head in both hands and rocking side to side.

"Thor's 22 years old," Solis explained, "and I think Nadiya's about 21, maybe 22—." He was interrupted by Nadiya appearing behind him and kicking him in the spine.

"It's impolite to ask a woman her age, even less so to guess at it. Nevertheless, you're right—I'm about to turn 22."

"You two sure don't look it," Yang mentioned.

"Thor's a Dwarf, she's an Elf. Their lives are double that of a normal Human's, thus their bodies age slower than ours do. How else would they look so young?"

"Well… yeah, I've got nothing."

Yang and Ruby left a bit later after some discussion, proceeding to get into a catfight between each other. Weiss Schnee got involved and things got loud. Even after the lights went out they were still arguing.

In order to go to sleep, Ventus put his earbuds in his ears and turned on some rock music. Thor and Nadiya slept together, cuddled up together by one of the pillars in the ballroom. Solis stayed awake, remembering Jaune's sister and swearing revenge for her death over and over.

Jaune, on the other hand, was getting annoyed by the sisters and heiress's ironic arguing over sleep-deprivation. Taking his Magnum and replacing the magazine with blanks, he stood up and marched over to where the girls were. He raised the pistol to the ceiling and fired several rounds, scaring the young women and startling several people trying to sleep.

"If you want some sleep," Jaune said in a calm manner, "then I suggest you stop arguing and get to bed. If you want to argue all night, there's plenty of space outside where you can shout to your hearts' content. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but your argument about sleep-deprivation is ironic in a sense, no?"

The girls were silent.

"So how about we either take this elsewhere, save it for later, or drop it entirely."

"Well you're one to talk," Weiss scoffed. Jaune wasn't having it tonight.

"Listen here, princess," said the darker side of him as Jaune's Centurion side took over. This time, Jaune was doing his best to remember everything it did. "Either you shut up or I'll duct tape your trap shut. Sound like a plan? Good, I'm glad."

The Centurion State left Jaune, keeping him standing while reverting back to normal.

"Now get to bed before my dark side comes back and forces you to sleep with chloroform," Jaune warned, remembering not only everything that just happened but all the things he did in his Centurion State in the first place.

" _Seems like the formula is wearing off_ ," muttered Sentinel, the nickname the Centurion side gave itself while he was speaking with Jaune; no one but Jaune could see or hear Sentinel as their conversations were generally hosted in Jaune's mind. " _Remembering anything?_ "

"Yeah," Jaune responded to Sentinel alone, just as they did before the formula incident. "It's all coming back to me."

" _What about everything else?_ "

"I guess it'll come back soon enough. I remember having some friends in the middle of training. No names, a couple of faces. I even remember where some were sent."

" _Well, let's hope we won't need to call them any time soon. I remember that one of the closer ones gave you his Scroll frequency. He, in turn, has contact with all the other members of his 'squad'. I'll let you know where it is when you need it._ "

"Alright, cool. What about you, Sentinel; you remember anything?"

" _Other than what we need and you still being single? Not really._ "

"…okay then, good to know."

" _Let's get some rest right quick. We'll need it for initiation tomorrow._ "

 **End**

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the hiatus. Been on vacation and some other things. I don't know how I feel about the 'Centurion' thing, so you readers are going to have to tell me how you like it. In terms of the 'Gaelic Dwarf/Russian Elf' deal, I'm actually writing an eBook around those two (and not involving RWBY, just the future). Now, if you fellas will excuse me, I'll go and finish ending my hiatus. See y'all around. Texas, out.**


	6. Chapter 6

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 6: Graceless Flight

* * *

By the time Ventus woke up, Solis, Thor, and Nadiya were all awake and getting ready for the day just like everybody else. Jaune, on the other hand, was having a hard time waking up, so he just started getting ready in an effort to wake himself up. In a rush of wind, Ventus redressed in his silver-blue armor and slung Hurricane and Typhoon on his back. In a sense, he did everything faster than everyone else except for eating, which he took longer than most in doing. He totally skipped the locker room and headed to Beacon's cliff right away, weapons already on his back.

* * *

(Minutes later)

"Why do I get the feeling that you're planning something bad," Jaune asked Weiss, noting her strange nightmarish grin while she was speaking with Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss snapped out of the trance and scoffed at the blond teen.

"Who let you jump in," was her response. He glared at her menacingly, letting one eye flash with Sentinel's help.

"No one, but I shouldn't need it when talking with other students," Jaune reasoned.

"He does have a point, Weiss," Pyrrha noted. Weiss just huffed and turned her head away from Jaune.

"Well, I'm not just any student," Weiss argued, making Jaune roll his eyes.

" _She's persistent_ ," Sentinel popped out of nowhere. He appeared as a red-eyed shadow of a Roman Centurion, shield and all.

Apparently, both Weiss and Pyrrha saw Sentinel and backed away from his form.

" _Aww, they're scared of you, Jaune_ ," Sentinel teased.

"No, I think that's them seeing you, buddy," Jaune responded, not sure how to explain Sentinel to the girls.

"Err, Jaune," Pyrrha stuttered in fear. "Who is that? The shadow beside you?"

"Long story short," Jaune sighed, "that's my darker side. Apparently, he can manifest himself as a shadow, almost like a Grimm." Jaune shot a glare at the figure.

" _Wait, what do I look like right now_ ," Sentinel said worriedly.

"A Roman Centurion, except almost like a Grimm," Jaune answered to Sentinel. The figure gasped and, in a tornado of red particles, transformed into a normal Roman Centurion with inverted eyes like Jaune's. Sentinel knelt before the girls as if to apologize.

" _My apologies, ladies. I am Sentinel, the manifestation of Jaune's Centurion heritage. He labels me as his 'dark side' because I am prone to take over his body at times when he is most frustrated or in grave danger._ "

Sentinel almost immediately disappeared into Jaune's subconscious, making him sigh in defeat.

"What on Remnant was that," Weiss demanded. This made Jaune facepalm and Pyrrha laugh.

"Did you hear him explain it or not," Jaune returned. "Besides, I can't explain _all_ of it, simply because a lot of it is classified. I can't say much of it."

"Oh, so you're some sort of Captain in the military, huh? I doubt it. Pyrrha, get him out of here."

"Can it, shorty," growled a husky voice, gruff from the morning hours. Solis entered the conversation with his unusually usual gait. "Scrappy here's telling the truth. Consider me a witness."

"Who told you to barge in," Weiss griped at the Grimlock. "And for the record, I am not short."

"Me, myself, and I," he answered. "Besides, there's not a soul who can't hear you with all that shouting. And quite frankly, you're way shorter than I am; therefore, I can call you 'shorty', _Shorty_."

"Well, please stop calling me short; it's far too demeaning. Perhaps not for the likes of you."

"You say that as if I'm like this for no reason, which is just not the case. You, on the other hand, have no excuse to be half as rude."

"I do too!"

"Then give it."

"NO!"

"Why?"

Weiss was silent for a moment or two before answering.

"Personal reasons," she answered shortly before marching off to the cliff.

"Well, that happened," Jaune mumbled, not quite sure what just transpired.

Solis huffed and walked off to the cliff, which was when Jaune noticed that the weapon on his back was not the shotgun he had last night; in its place was a strange-looking sword, with two 5-foot curved red blades protruding from the edges of the guard and inwards to a near point. What confused Jaune most was the fact that Solis explicitly stated that he brought no other weapons.

"Hey, Pyrrha? Have you noticed that his weapon is different?"

"I have," she responded. "Perhaps his weapon can transform like mine."

"Maybe so, but I haven't seen him doing that."

"Well, we should head to the cliffs like he and Weiss."

"I'M LATE," Thor yelled as he stumbled between the two with his massive Warhammer strapped to his back. "NADIYA'S GONNA KILL ME!"

"Well he was in a hurry," said Yang from behind. "Nearly made roadkill out of Ruby, almost sent me through a wall."

"Speaking of which, we should probably get a move on before someone else does the same," Jaune agreed.

* * *

"For years, you have trained to become warriors," began Ozpin. "And today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now," Goodwitch cut in. "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion: each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Ventus literally fell off of his seat in the air, landing on one of the platforms. Thor sneezed when a fly landed on his nose. Solis, having lifted his foot to keep blood flowing, set down his foot on an unseen banana peel and landed on his tailbone. Nadiya, on the other hand, couldn't contain her laughter at the sight of three young men screwing up with perfect timing.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Ozpin continued around the interruption. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

Ruby made a small 'aww' noise, as if to say the idea terrified her.

"That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with will be your partner for the next four years."

Jaune could almost hear Ruby's world shatter as Ventus, while playing with a wind snake, overheard this and let it go—right into his face, sending him crashing to the ground with insane speeds. He was still whimpering when Ozpin continued his instructions.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way; do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you _will_ die."

Being rusty in terms of combat experience, Jaune let loose a nervous chuckle and swallowed. He did _not_ want to be the unlucky shmuck that got to prove Ozpin's point right.

"You will be monitored for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics; each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Well, maybe one or two—," Jaune started, feeling queasy from his acrophobia. Ozpin ignored him, starting the process. While Jaune asked Ozpin those questions, Thor saw the other students being vaulted into the forest via the launch pads. One by one the spring traps activated, flinging each student almost a hundred feet into the air at high speeds. He kept his mouth closed, instead grinning mischievously as he took a sturdy stance. Solis was the one to speak about it, more afraid of flight than heights.

"Err, Jaune," Solis shouted, cutting off his query. "The platforms are spring-loaded."

"Indeed, Mr. Occasum," responded Ozpin. "What a clever inquiry. Most students only find out after they've been launched."

"Oh, God," Jaune whined. "Do you have any parachutes I can borrow?"

"That's a good question," Solis responded. "Is there any way for me _not_ to have to FLY?"

He was launched just as he said the word 'fly', to which Jaune just swallowed and pushed his fear behind him as he prayed the flight wouldn't last long.

* * *

Ventus was a ways down from Jaune, with Thor, Nadiya, Yang, and Ruby between them when Jaune went flying. Still, the master of the skies was slightly nervous himself. He'd never been thrown into the air once in his life, much less launched by spring-loaded platforms. He pushed that fear behind him as he remembered something Ben taught him about fear and courage.

After Yang took to the skies wearing a silly pair of sunglasses, Ruby gave Ventus a small smile before she was sent skyward. A wildfire lit inside Ventus's eyes as he moved his right foot behind him and summoned several thousand PSI worth of air underneath him. The wind started spinning slowly before the pad exploded forward, then blasted forward as Ventus beat the pad to the punch with a massive leap. Ruby saw him flying faster than her and looked at him with awe; as he passed her, he gave a small wink and a flash from his blue eye lasting less than a second.

* * *

"It seems as though he took fate into his own hands," Ozpin commented as Ventus blasted from his platform before it could launch him, the last student to go now gone.

"That reckless demeanor could get him or someone else killed," Glynda noted.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said the Headmaster as he watched the students disappear into the horizon. Their fate was now in their own hands.

All the students had landing strategies except for Ventus, who didn't intend on landing in the first place. Ruby used Crescent Rose to slide down a tree effortlessly, her sister Yang used her gauntlets to keep her flying, and Weiss used her Glyphs to hop down to the forest floor. There were five strategies that caught Ozpin's attention: Solis Occasum used his iron knuckles to cling to a tree, then slid down with relative ease; Ventus Zephyro used the same wind that shot him up to allow for a safe landing and danger-free landing zone; Thor Lochlannach used his bioelectric Aura to summon a reverse gravitational field to slow his descent; Nadiya Luchnik went with a more agile approach, swinging from branch to branch like an acrobat before landing in a high-up branch to search for Thor.

Then there was Jaune Arc, who did the unexpected: instead of finding a safe way to land, he put Death in a choke hold by slamming into the earth at terminal velocity. This made Ozpin very interested in the former soldier/farmer, as his transcripts said nothing about such strength. As a matter of fact, not even his commanders said a thing about it, nor did his parents. Right then and there, the Headmaster decided to speak with Jaune about it, especially after seeing a familiar sight: the bright blue pupils and orange irises on black backgrounds. The all-telling sign of a Centurion.

"Professor, if I may be so bold," Glynda spoke, bringing Ozpin out of his thoughts, "But I feel it would be appropriate to wait until we're certain he is here to stay. I would hate to spook Mr. Arc out of the Academy, wouldn't you agree?"

"I do," Ozpin agreed. "However, we are currently in desperate times right now; we cannot just sit around and do nothing."

"But we can't act too soon," added a familiar voice.

"It's good to see you too, Qrow. Would you care to watch the initiates with us?"

"Nah, I've got a good view where I am. And as I was saying, we've gotta time it right. Act too soon, _she_ 'll anticipate it. Too late, there won't be a world _to_ save. Besides, we've got a Silver-eyed Liaison who knows his power, my niece has Silver eyes, we've got a Grimlock on campus, and a Dwarf and Elf who fought together in a labor camp are in attendance. On top of _that_ , there's the Mars Insider Project on our side, so even if someone hacks the Atlesian military drones, we've still got a fighting chance if we get it wrong."

"And if she unleashes _it_ ," Ozpin asked Qrow Branwen after a moment's pause.

"We can tell him right before the Vytal festival or in the middle of it, if you want. All I'm saying is we can't just rush it." Qrow dropped a hand-written letter at Ozpin's feet. "That's what I came here for. Now I gotta fly."

Glynda sighed after he was gone.

"I really don't get him," she muttered, still uncertain whether he could hear or not. "He's a master Huntsman one moment, messenger boy the next, and somehow finds time to get drunk in the meantime. I hope neither of his nieces turns out like him."

 **End**

* * *

 **A/N: That was one of those few chapters that take a while. I have a tiny excuse: I was busy recording for about 40 minutes, editing for 10 or 12 (no thanks to Movie Maker, dammit), and uploading to YouTube for about 50. On top of that, FF throws a hissy fit and makes me have to edit each chapter before I post. Video Title: Civ V LP Ep. 1**

 **I hope you readers enjoyed the hilarity while it lasted, because pretty soon that hilarity will transform to physical comedy packed with violence (or vice versa). I've already hinted at Volume 3, so things are about to get seriously serious. Hopefully I won't go overkill, as I don't want to change this fic to my first M-rated story.**

 **My parents are currently begging me to come and say prayers, so I'd better rush in before they go psycho on me. Texas, out.**


	7. Chapter 7

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 7: A Light Against the Darkness

* * *

Thor landed relatively lightly thanks to his bioelectric Aura. Actually, it had nothing to do with his Aura; he's just so magnetically charged that he can use said polarity to his advantage, not unlike right now. He created a reverse gravitational field strong enough to slow his descent yet weak enough to keep him going down. Even so, he had to pull out his hammer to clear out a landing zone due to the number of Grimm in his area. With Ragnarok Mjolnir in hand, he clobbered an Ursa so hard it went soaring into another Ursa… and another, then a tree, and finally stopping at a boulder. Charging his Semblance, Thor drew energy from the Dust in the air and started sparking with electric energy. Unlike Nora's Semblance, he was unable to use that lightning in any way other than what it was in nature: lightning.

He swung his hammer down, charged with the white-hot electricity, and struck the earth with such a force that the shockwave reverberated through the earth itself for several hundred feet. Ursai left and right were vaporized in the blast radius, others were flung away, and still others were simply killed from the shockwave.

Thor stood up to survey his damage. Sure enough, his LZ was cleared. Well… almost cleared.

"Don't you think that's a little overkill," said the familiar mild Russian accent he'd come to adore. He turned to face Nadiya, slinging his hammer over his right shoulder.

"Nah, overkill is completely subjective," he replied. The pair instantly heard a massive explosion, followed by a sonic boom shortly after. "Though there is a bit of a limit to how subjective it can be, I suppose."

His lover giggled at this. That sound made him happier than a child at Christmas.

"Is that how it works," said she, stepping closer to the hammer-wielding man. "Well then, I _subjectively_ love you."

She pulled the tall dwarf to her and planted a kiss on his lips. The two shared a passionate moment together before pulling apart. Moments afterwards, the duo heard two roars: one was unmistakably that of a Grimm, probably an Ursa; the other was more of a cross between that of a Beowolf and a T-Rex. Almost instantly, the Ursa they heard went flying at least a hundred yards in the air before being engulfed by a fireball from wherever the other creature was.

"Well, I think _that_ escalated rather quickly," Thor commented. "Now, where were we?"

"Please no more," pleaded a voice from out of nowhere. Turns out, it was none other than Ventus Zephyro. "You two looked like two elephants fighting over a peanut. Seals fighting over a grape, birds fighting over a seed, you get it. Right?"

"Aww, look at him," Nadiya giggled, leaning against Thor. "He looks like a kicked puppy."

Ventus just looked on with an unimpressed stare.

"Well, I'm going to go figure out what the heck that was that roared," the Liaison stated. "Behave yourselves, not everyone in Beacon is 'married' like you two are."

With a skip and a hop, he literally took off at the speed of sound, leaving behind him a trail of dust and a blue cone of broken wind.

* * *

There were only two things in Remnant that Ventus did not like: bullies and PDA. Bullies were like Communist Dictators—overbearing, rude, and uncaring for others. Public displays of affection were a different matter altogether; it actually made him sick to his stomach, the mere idea of romance, and PDA reminded him of just that. He figured that if someone wanted to display some form of romance, they should simply find a room and finish what they started.

He had a very good reason for detesting love: the White Fang took the only chance he had. When he was younger, before the Fang branded him, he actually had a crush on a young Faunus girl. One of the Fang members decided that she was a traitor and hired a mercenary to kill her. Ventus had no chance of saving her, despite his best attempts. From that moment onwards, he vowed to never try for love unless it was either his time to leave this world or the one he found was 'the one'. And even then, he refused to think about romance, love, or anything related to the subject.

In the midst of his thoughts, Ventus ran into Solis at a little under Mach 1. Ventus toppled to the ground, somehow leaving Solis standing. The older teen held out a hand after a few moments, which Ventus gladly took.

"C'mon," Solis muttered, walking off and leaving Ventus confused.

"Wait, we're not even partners yet," Ventus yelled after him as he darted up.

"Well now we are," said Solis, grinning like a madman. "My rules are different. Deal with it."

* * *

Despite being in Grimm-infested territory, Jaune was lucky enough to not run into any. This left both him and Sentinel worried and confused.

"Well, it doesn't seem like anyone's around here," Jaune noted.

" _Or anything, for that matter_ ," added Sentinel. " _At least we don't have to defend ourselves that much_."

"Alternatively, we don't have a partner."

" _Oh, come on. We don't need them. Why would we when we have each other?_ "

"Because you're as much a part of me as I am of you. Remember, we were split apart at birth. You yourself reminded me."

" _Oh yeah. Yeah, I don't think I count as a partner anymore. But I could, ya know_."

"Now you see where I'm coming from. Now where are we?"

" _Erm… Ya know, I haven't the foggiest clue. Or the muddiest. Or the smallest. Or—_."

"Yeah, I get it. Which way's North?"

"Need some help," called a familiar voice. Jaune and Sentinel both turned to see Pyrrha Nikos standing on a tree branch.

" _Yeah… no_ ," responded Sentinel.

"Yes," corrected Jaune.

" _No_."

"Yes."

" _No, not really_."

"We need at least a compass."

" _No we don't_."

"And maybe a partner."

" _We're fine on our own_."

"And a map."

" _We're not lost, are we? No seriously, are we lost?_ "

Jaune's hand clapped his forehead. Of course his other side would not only be the more courageous side, but also the one that didn't think before acting or speaking.

"Yes, Sentinel; we're lost. Anymore redundant questions you want to ask?"

"Just so you know," Pyrrha interrupted their argument, "I am also in need of a partner."

Jaune looked up to see Pyrrha's face. Her green eyes met with his blue ones. Sentinel groaned as he took a visible form and made eye contact with the Amazonian Spartan.

" _There, we've got a partner_ ," Sentinel griped. " _What now? It's not like she has a compass on her—._ "

"Actually, I don't need one," Pyrrha cut him off once more. "I believe we are heading in a Northerly direction right now."

Sentinel's metaphorical jaw dropped, revealing a row of razor-sharp teeth that should belong on a shark.

"Okay, that was pretty cool," Jaune admitted. "How'd you do that?"

"Well, my Semblance is Polarity," she explained. Both Jaune and Sentinel cocked their heads to the side and made confused grunting noises. "Do you know what a Semblance is?"

" _If I remember correctly, it's a form of superpower linked to one's Aura. Whatever that's supposed to mean._ "

"Do you know what an Aura is?"

Both responded negatively.

"Hmm… How should I begin?"

* * *

" _So let us get this straight,_ " Sentinel 'thought' aloud. " _An Aura is the manifestation of the connection between the soul and body of any particular thing. Outside of a Grimm, of course._ "

"Correct," said Pyrrha.

" _And our Aura is currently locked. Because the halves of our soul are currently divided, half floating on some astral plane where our body is, I'm guessing_."

"Well, that's just one theory. Another is that an Aura can unlock when one goes through a stressful event."

" _So Auras can act as a shield and a minor healing agent, correct?_ " Pyrrha nodded. " _And even as a battery for our Semblances, whatever they might be? Sounds cool. Neat-oh._ "

"And they can regenerate, right," Jaune asked. Pyrrha nodded.

" _So can you unlock our Aura? Or is that even a thing?_ "

"Well, I haven't tried it yet," Pyrrha began. "But perhaps I could do so now."

" _Actually, hang on a sec._ " Sentinel 'turned' to face Jaune. " _Buddy, I think it's time we came together._ "

"What," Jaune muttered in confusion. "What do you mean, 'come together'?"

" _I mean, I know we're two halves of the same whole. I know it may not sound like a good idea to you, but I think it's the only way to help you get around to being the real you_."

"What 'real me?! We're one and the same, remember?"

" _Well, thing is Jaune, I'm only half of one whole. You're the other half of the equation. Add us together, and BAMMO, you've got a full Centurion. Really, I'm kind of holding you back. If anything, we_ shouldn't _have been apart for this long. Think about it: when two halves of the same soul are separated at birth, they keep drifting further apart until both halves dissipate into nothingness. We're seventeen: really, if we stay like this, we'll be lucky if we survive our eighteenth._ "

"But, what'll happen to you," Jaune almost whimpered. Sentinel chuckled.

" _You yourself said it: we're one and the same. Think of it as a permanent merge: you get everything that I am, and I become a voice in your head. It's a win-win situation._ "

After a bit of thinking, Jaune finally gave his answer.

"Alright. Let's get this over with."

Sentinel hovered over to Jaune and touched his forehead. Sentinel seemed to slither into Jaune's body in half a second. With the reunion complete, Jaune was glowing a bright white with the eyes of a Centurion. His Aura wrapped around him almost like a snake and wrapped around his pieces of armor along his body. The armor snapped open, unleashing a quick red whirlwind of particles that surrounded Jaune. The particles molded to his form and, in a matter of seconds, disappeared to reveal an entirely different Jaune. He looked like a modern Roman Centurion, complete with armored shorts, a steel-plated vest with red and blue accents, and a red cape attached at the shoulders. On his left arm was a steel Scutum, and his right hand held a rather long steel spear; both weapons matched the armor in that they all had red and blue accents.

It all disappeared in seconds, leaving Jaune back in his original clothes as the Centurion armor returned to within the armor. That was the first time Jaune neared entering his full Centurion state, but he almost wanted to do so again. His shield transformed into a full-on Scutum, and Crocea Mors extended into a bladed spear instead of into the Riot Shield and Cannon he was so used to. It was almost exhilarating, the feeling of pure power.

"Well," Pyrrha knocked him out of his thoughts. "I suppose that's one way to unlock one's own Aura."

"Yep," Jaune said, totally not paying attention to his partner. "It is. I guess."

* * *

"Which friggin' way is North," griped Solis as he paced around a clearing. Ventus hovered overhead, feeling for the direction of the Sun. Sadly, it was only 1:30 in the afternoon. Suddenly, Ventus fell from the air and landed feet-first.

"Well, West is somewhere near the Sun," the Liaison began, figuring things out in his head. "So North has got to be around 90 degrees from where the Sun is heading. Judging by that and a bit of quick thinking, I believe North is—," he turned and pointed South, "—thataway."

"Tell me the truth," Solis rolled his eyes. Ventus sighed in defeat.

"We passed it a few hundred feet back," he stated bluntly. "We now need to head South."

"Well, _that's_ just great," growled Solis, ripping a stick out of the ground. "I'm apparently getting rusty. Either that or you just want to go back and sight-see."

"Chill out, dude. Everyone needs some help sometimes, even Grimlocks or Liaisons. Besides, it's pretty much high-noon; solar clocks won't help now."

"Remind me again, who has the training as Pathfinder? I don't need a 'solar clock'; I just need a reference point."

"Or a good vantage point; one which, by the way, _I_ don't need because I can fly. Also, we really just plain need a compass or a map."

"We don't need a map; I'm pretty much a walking map. So why would we need a compass if we have a walking map?"

"Because we passed it while you were out sniffing the air. I should know because we walked in circles around it."

"Well if we passed it, then why didn't you tell me a damn thing?"

"Because you were too busy pulling the 'I'm Daniel Boone, I don't need a map' card to listen to me telling you the same dang thing five times a minute."

"I'm not Daniel Boone; I just have actual training. Something _you_ don't have."

"Dude, I saw Cardin and his guys laughing at us as you walked us around the clearing, like, _five times_."

"So now it's _five_ times, huh? You had plenty of time to mention it to me, and yet you didn't."

"I did, you just pulled that stupid 'Pathfinder training' card."

"Well, that's just great," the arguing duo heard Weiss grumble. "Wrong clearing, once again. Way to go, you dolt."

"Hey, you were the one dragging me around," cried Ruby as she folded her arms in protest. The heiress and Grimlock both rolled their eyes.

"I think I know what you're going through," muttered Solis, pointing at Ventus behind him. Said Liaison growled at the self-proclaimed Pathfinder and sliced under his nose with his thumb, effectively dissing Solis.

Thirty minutes later, Ruby and Ventus were sitting down in the shade of a tree. Ventus was leaning against the trunk of the tree and staring up into the sky while Ruby picked at fallen leaves in boredom.

"I mean, it's this way," Weiss mumbled, pacing around the clearing. "It's gotta be this way. Or this way? It's definitely this way."

"It could be over there," Solis pondered aloud as he, too, paced back and forth. "Or over there. Maybe we're standing right on top of it? Or is all this just a big joke by Ozpin? Maybe we're supposed to dig? Or fly up there? You know what, Ventus? Fly up and get a good vantage point, find our bearings for me, would ya?"

Ventus growled at Solis.

"I _did_ ," the younger teen grumbled. "Thirty minutes ago while you were trying to make a solar compass and whining about how we were lost or turned around."

"Whining? That's all I'm hearing from you, young'un."

"Quit calling me young'un! _We_ aren't turned around; _you_ 're turned around."

"Fine then, which way?"

"As I've been telling you for the past half-hour: South, two to four-hundred yards."

"That's just a big kiddy playground. Old ruins, ya know."

"And in those 'ruins' are the relics Ozpin mentioned! By now, they're probably all gone, no thanks to you!"

"Well how about we just prove you wrong, shall we?!"

"Sounds like a plan, Dirtbag! I'd love to see more relics there."

As Ventus and Solis marched off, Weiss and Ruby stared at each other, still confused about what just happened.

"Maybe we should follow them," Weiss suggested.

"Yeah, good plan," agreed Ruby. The two proceeded to follow the enraged duo ahead of them.

* * *

"So what did Ozpin say again," Pyrrha asked Jaune as the pair walked through the woods.

"Something about an abandoned temple with the relics," Jaune responded. "At least, that's what I remember outside of the 'Northern end of the forest' thing."

"I thought so," Pyrrha muttered. "Did Sentinel tell you that?"

"No, he didn't. And besides, he's a part of me now, in case you forgot."

"I didn't; I just wanted to be certain about it."

"Well, now you know. By the way, where are we?"

"Still going North."

"I mean, where are we in relation to the temple-thing?"

"I honestly have no idea. I don't know the lay of the land."

"Okay then, can we get some sort of vantage point? Could you maybe, like, send me up with your Semblance, give me a good aerial view?"

"Perhaps. Brace yourself."

Pyrrha then touched the front part of his armor gently, making him think she took it the wrong way; the next thing he thought was regret for thinking that thought as he went flying twenty yards up. He was literally holding onto his chestplate for dear life as he looked around for anything resembling a temple. He finally found it, around 150 yards to the East.

"I found it," he yelled down to his partner, who was growing tired from holding him up. The black glow around his armor and Pyrrha faded, and Gravity immediately took hold and pulled him to the ground. He landed with a loud 'oof' before Pyrrha apologized to him. She was apologizing to him far too often at this point, and it was kind of driving him batty.

"Are you okay," she asked as she helped him to his feet.

"I'm fine. Just don't apologize too much over it. That's been getting kind of annoying, no offense to you."

"None taken. So where is it?"

"To the East, 150 yards. In the middle of a large clearing. There's a flock of Nevermores heading West about a half-mile away from the temple itself. I also saw a large cotton ball thing just outside of the clearing."

"Well then, to the East it is."

* * *

"See? Nothing here but a stone structure at the far end. Let's go—."

"Hold on, you dolt. That's the temple Ozpin told us about."

"And how would you know that, Ice Queen?"

"Because Ozpin told us to find a temple at the Northern end of the forest, and so far I've only seen one. Not that you'd remember anything about it, what with your misplaced trust issues."

"Hey, I've been trained to look out for these sorts of things and I didn't see it."

"And yet it was right in front of you and you totally missed it."

"Well you passed it too, Princess."

"Actually, we kind of went around—."

"Can it, Red Riding Hood."

"CUT IT OUT," Ventus shouted as he entered the clearing, followed by Solis, then Ruby and finally Weiss. "We can strangle each other later. For now, we need to just get a relic and get outta Dodge. Can we all just do that?"

Solis rolled his eyes and growled while Weiss scoffed, folding her arms and looking away from Solis.

"Alright. Let's just get what we came for and get out. C'mon guys."

Finally at the temple, Solis and Weiss kept an eye out while Ventus and Ruby looked at the different 'relics'.

"Chess pieces, eh," Ventus griped. "Way to go, Ozzie; I'm falling asleep here. I thought they were going to be real relics, not some chess fan convention or huge dangerous lesson about the pawn and whatnot."

"Well, we'd best pick one—."

Ruby was almost strangled under her older sister as Yang practically tackled the scythe-bearer. Ventus almost died of laughter before getting zapped by familiar lightning. His hair stood on end in its spiky state as he turned to glare at the perpetrator: Thor Lochlannach.

"Tag, you're it," Thor joked. A powerful gust of wind smashed into his face as Ventus rolled his eyes at the jokester.

"Very funny, Viking," Ventus muttered, flattening out his spiky hair. Now that he was turned around, he could see the same cotton-like object Solis was keeping a close eye on. "Hey, hang on. Is that what I think it is?"

"I think so," Solis agreed, finally getting over the fact that he was wrong. "I smell Grimm, too. Probably a Death Stalker, King Taijitu if we're unlucky enough."

"Sounds like fun," muttered Nadiya. "Where's it all coming from?"

"The wind's messing with my senses, but I think it's coming from over—." The fluffy orb broke open just as Jaune and Pyrrha entered the clearing. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie were all over the place, the former practically chasing the latter, almost getting trampled by the dark form from the orb. "There."

The form from inside what was clearly an egg of sorts was indistinguishable at the moment. By the time it had formed completely, a flock of Nevermores flew overhead, followed shortly by a massive Death Stalker. The twelve Huntsmen in training now had about 5 Nevermores, a large Death Stalker, and a three-headed Hydra to battle.

"Well, that's just great," Thor commented. "We're out-numbered, out-sized, out-gunned, and all-around out-matched. How're we gonna get through this one, Nadiya?"

"Well, don't look at me," his lover answered. "I'm not looking at _all_ of them; just one of them."

"I'm thinking we should take the Hydra," Solis and Ventus said simultaneously, bumping fists because of their agreement.

"Either way, you guys should grab a chess piece before we get going," said Thor. Ventus and Ruby both took a random piece, Nora went crazy over the white Rook, and Jaune picked up a white rook that fell off its pedestal. So far, Ruby and Yang both retrieved the white Knight pieces, Thor and Ventus grabbed the white Bishop pieces, and Nora and Jaune got the white Rooks.

"Great," said Solis, staring up at the Nevermores. "Now can we make someone's life easier and take out some of those oversized pigeons?"

"On it," said Nadiya. Thor charged his Semblance and electrocuted the four arrows Nadiya drew from her quiver. With her bow, she fired off one by one at four different Nevermores. Each one hit its target, vaporizing the struck Nevermores.

"Why didn't you take out all five," asked Pyrrha. Nadiya grinned devilishly.

"Can't let you wimp out, can I?" Thor grinned widely, pointing at Nadiya with his thumb.

"I got lucky with this one, didn't I," he chuckled. Ventus, Solis, and Jaune all rolled their eyes.

"Let's just go," Solis growled.

* * *

While Ruby, Weiss, Blake Belladonna, and Yang all battled the last Nevermore, Jaune decided he'd had enough with the scary things and, drawing his Riot Cannon, fired two rounds at the Death Stalker. It sacrificed both pincers to stop the explosive rounds, which vaporized the armored bits they struck. He then went full Centurion and, with a single thrust of his pilum, broke through the armored head of the scorpion Grimm and killed the monster.

With Ventus and his temporary allies, on the other hand, the Hydra was impossible to beat. Every time one head fell, two more took its place. The quartet soon found themselves facing off against a ten-headed, roaring, purely enraged Hydra. Solis was about to give up and accept death before a memory resurfaced.

" _Solis_ ," echoed the dying words of Aurora Arc in his mind, " _Please don't forget me. And for the love of God, don't ever lose yourself. I don't want to see you with me just yet._ "

Thanks to Jaune's transformation into his Centurion state, as well as the presence of the threat, Solis was starting to understand what she meant by that. She wanted him to remember her, but simultaneously not to go bat-shit crazy as he already did. Still, he knew it wasn't too late to change. The red in his eyes and hair faded away to reveal bright blue eyes and… spiky red hair.

"Thanks, Aurora," he muttered to the heaven-bound girl. He didn't want to have a repeat of her life at the hands of Grimm, so he started thinking as quickly as humanly possible. An idea formulated almost immediately, and he was determined to put it forward.

"Thor, Nadiya," he shouted at the two. "I'll distract it. Find a good angle and pin it down. Ventus, get ready for my signal. You get the kill shot."

"Gotcha," Ventus said, launching into the air and charging his Aura. His blue-tipped silver hair turned full royal blue as he curled up in a ball mid-air. The two whips on his back extended and locked onto his forearms as hardened steel blades.

While Thor and Nadiya worked together to set up the trap, Solis transformed into his Grimm state and literally punched the Hydra in one of its faces. That got its attention; now came the hard part: keeping it in one place. He hopped around like a rubber ball in a rubber room thrown by a baseball pitcher. All ten heads were practically tied up in a knot by the time the first of four arrows struck the ground near the Hydra's tail.

"That's it, twenty-eyes," Solis huffed through his Beowolf form. "Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize. Don't lose me, not one bit."

The last arrow finally struck the ground, practically in a square if all four arrows were connected by lines. Thor, with Nora's help, sparked his Semblance and shot lightning at the square. Solis leaped out of the way just in time for a net of pure lightning trapped the Hydra, pinned down by the four arrows. Thor and Nadiya were so coordinated it wasn't even funny anymore, he decided.

"Ventus, now," Solis called to the hovering teen.

At this point, Ventus was glowing yellow, with seven glowing lights spinning around him. When Solis called him, the lights entered his uncurled body, and he turned a bright blond color, his clothes turned yellow, and the glow only intensified. He opened his eyes to reveal that they were now a bright red. That made Solis remember that Liaisons had three separate sides: light, dark, and neutral. He assumed that this was Ventus's greater light side, thinking that the blue side was his regular light side.

With the wind no longer blowing, it was a curiosity how Ventus was hovering. Still, the glowing teen seemed to transform into a spinning ball of spines and darted down on the Hydra at Mach 50. The blast wave was unbelievable, sending Grimm smoke everywhere. Nothing remained of the Hydra but a memory and a 20-foot crater. In that hole, Ventus had one foot on a rock that rolled into the crater, now a royal blue color with green eyes.

"What?" he called out of the crater. "That other side you see me in is my neutral side. What you just saw was my pure light side. I'm currently in my light-neutral side. What do you think, huh? Blue's not a bad color, right?"

"Nah, yellow was way cooler," Thor laughed like a maniac.

"I think your silver bit was better," Nadiya stated bluntly.

"I like it," Ruby shouted before getting slung to the cliff face to finish off the Nevermore. Solis and Ventus both smiled at the redhead.

"You do what you want," Solis told his partner. "Either way, I think it's agreed: we're getting on a team together." Ventus smiled as the quartet made their way to the cliff ahead of them.

* * *

"Jaune Arc," Headmaster Ozpin called to the stage after Initiation had ended. "Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper), led by: Jaune Arc." Jaune snapped a sharp salute in two different forms: ordinary with the Atlasian salute; and the Centurion, with an arm hammering his chestplate as a Roman salute.

"Ruby Rose," he called out again as JNPR left the stage. "Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby), led by: Ruby Rose."

"That's gonna get confusing," commented Ventus. Solis nodded in agreement.

"And last," Ozpin finalized, "But certainly not least. Solis Occasum, Ventus Zephyro, Nadiya Luchnik, Thor Lochlannach. The four of you retrieved the white Bishop pieces. As I'm certain everyone is aware, I normally name teams after colors. However, I am going to name this team as a virtue everyone deserves, especially this team. Therefore, from this day forward, you four will work together as Team SVTN (Salvation), led by: Solis Occasum."

The newly christened SVTN snapped a quick salute to the crowd and to Ozpin before throwing their hands in a pile and yelled 'Salvation' loud enough to be heard throughout Beacon.

 **End**

* * *

 **A/N: That was fun to write. A bit long, but fun nonetheless. Either way, we now have Teams RWBY, JNPR, and the newbie to the world of Remnant: SVTN. And yes, I literally pulled the 'kill off a character you barely know' card. I'm actually going to keep Sentinel, but he's not going to be seen anymore. He's going to be one of a few voices of reason in Jaune's head. Also, I made Ventus kind of like Sonic the Hedgehog, simply because I can. And Ventus** _ **does**_ **lose a girl in canon to this story (not RWBY, 'cause he's an OC), but that doesn't affect him too much simply because he keeps on going nonstop (thanks to his buddy Ben).**

 **Wanna know each character's theme songs? I know, I usually don't do songs. You know what? These songs describe each OC perfectly (and one for Jaune). I finally used the Riot Cannon (didn't describe it yet, but that'll come later), which is kinda like WWII artillery, a Gatling gun, and a Dust MG all rolled into one device made from Jaune's sword and shield. I've got something planned for the Mars Insider Project, as with one of Jaune's friends whom I will introduce later.**

 **You readers know the drill, so I won't say it. Texas, out.**


	8. Chapter 8

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 8: Coming of Age… Of Sorts

* * *

Jaune was well aware that his voice was too high to be manly. He figured it had something to do with Sentinel and he being separate entities for so long, maybe even being so young when he first went 'Centurion mode', as dubbed by Nora. He honestly had no clue what caused it; all he really knew was that it was embarrassing him now. Especially since his voice was starting to crack now. He was starting to sound like a broken whistle now, which was embarrassing enough for someone as old as he was, even more so that he was about to turn 18. The fact that he wasn't willing to speak made it worse, since people like Cardin Winchester used that to their advantage.

"C'mon, Jauney-boy," Cardin teased him in the arena as he usually did. "Aren't you gonna fight back? Or are you too weak to even talk back?"

Despite all the menacing words and blows he took, Jaune refused to give Cardin what he wanted; if he did, he was afraid Cardin would be incapacitated for an indeterminable amount of time, if not sent to the morgue. Neither of those two options was viable in the blond's eyes, so he kept quiet and refused to show his true strength. A mistake it may have been, but if it meant keeping a fellow student alive, he was going to take the risk.

"Suit yourself," Cardin chuckled as he hefted his mace once more and ended the battle right there. Despite having a massive Aura reserve, Jaune kept his lower than what would be considered 'normal' so as to make it easier for opponents to defeat him; with Cardin's weapon being so powerful, he was wiped out in one hit.

The lights in the arena turned back on. Goodwitch stepped on to the stage.

"And that's the match," she announced. "As you can see once more, Mister Arc put up no defense against Cardin's offensive.

"Mr. Arc, if you would please see me after class," she practically demanded.

As if on cue, the bell rang; all other students but the rest of JNPR left the arena. Jaune swallowed, knowing this wasn't going to end well.

"Jaune, what is going on," Goodwitch questioned the hidden soldier. "You haven't even tried to protect yourself whatsoever. Even worse, you've been limiting the Aura you use in battle. Why is that?"

Jaune simply shrugged. He knew if he spoke at all, there was a good chance that he would sound like a bird with strep throat, which would lead to some serious embarrassment.

"Please say something; it's worrying that you haven't even spoken to your teammates ever since initiation."

"I can't," Jaune whispered, knowing that a whisper wasn't too loud or strong enough to merit a voice crack.

"And why is that?"

"For some odd reason, my voice cracks every time I speak. It makes me sound like a bird with strep."

Out of nowhere, Ventus could be heard laughing near the vending machines. It seemed as though he could hear a whisper from a mile away… oh wait, he could.

"Hmm… perhaps your body skipped the vocal part of puberty at some point in your life. Completely understandable, I know other students who went through similar issues. However, your unwillingness to fight is absolutely absurd—."

"I just don't want to hurt anyone, alright," Jaune whisper-shouted. He sighed when Glynda raised an eyebrow. "Look, it may sound crazy, but I can beat the Aura out of someone even when drained of my own; believe me, I almost killed someone when doing so. I don't want to find out how far I can go with that, not unless it's for someone else's survival or against a Grimm."

"Then limit yourself. Not killing doesn't necessarily mean not fighting." She let that soak in before continuing. "Tomorrow, you'll be set up against Thor Lochlannach and Nadiya Luchnik. If you were smart, I'm certain you could take both of them with ease. For the meantime, get some rest."

"Alright, thanks."

* * *

Hours later, in JNPR dorm…

"WHAAAAAAT?! You mean you skipped puberty?!"

"No, Nora, I didn't skip puberty; it just got stopped on me."

"Well, that would certainly explain why your voice is cracking so often," Pyrrha noted.

"So why now," Ren asked, trying to piece the puzzle together.

"Well, now that I have one united soul and an Aura, I guess that had an effect on the timing," Jaune mentioned.

"Well, it's not _so_ bad," Nora stated bluntly, which was surprising with her. "I know some people who haven't gone through puberty until their twenties. There was this one guy who didn't go through puberty until he was forty; he was fifty when it stopped."

"He actually got in a number of fights for ten years," Ren explained. "After he learned to defend himself instead of simply attacking, his wounds eventually healed."

"And how long have you two known each other," Jaune asked before he could stop himself.

"Oh, you know," Nora said, "pretty much all our lives."

"We were neighbors in the same village," Ren stated in his usual bored tone.

Jaune stood up and walked to the window. Now that his team knew about the voice cracks, he wasn't afraid to speak aloud in front of them. Then again, that wasn't his biggest problem at the moment.

"Jaune, what's wrong," Pyrrha asked. He grimaced, knowing this was coming. Still, he didn't want to worry his teammates, so he did what he always did: he put out a façade and hoped it worked.

"Oh, it's nothing," he said, praying she didn't pursue further. "It's just something on my mind, that's all."

Unsurprisingly, with all the bad luck he tended to attract, she pursued.

"Jaune, I know that tone of voice," she told him. "You look too down for it to be 'just something on your mind'."

He sighed, knowing he'd lost this battle.

"My birthday's coming up on the equinox," Jaune answered. "It's one of my least favorite holidays around. Normally, it's the one day when no one even acknowledges my existence. What's worse, it always ends badly, whether it be ended in a ditch or having to wrap up any injuries bigger than a scratch."

"But at least you get presents, right," Nora shouted excitedly after a pause. Jaune shook his head, remembering all the things he had to give on every equinox and getting nothing in return. The usually chipper girl seemed to freeze in place before falling down on her bed.

"Oh my God, Jaune," Ventus said, flying by the window. "That's pretty harsh, don't you think? Are you sure that's what's been happening?"

"As far back as I remember," Jaune responded, still a bit downcast.

"Eh, that could be either last year or a few years back," was the hopeful response.

"I remember back to the day after I turned seven. I woke up with a broken arm and a killer headache. On top of that, I could barely remember my name."

"Meh, at least they don't laugh at you or prank you, right," muttered Solis as he passed the dorm door.

"They don't stop laughing when they talk about it. It's almost like they thought it was funny, watching me be practically tortured."

Solis crossed his arms as he leaned on the doorframe.

"Give me an example of the better years," he ordered.

"Well," Jaune began, "It was my sixteenth birthday, and I just came back from training with the MIP guys. No one said 'welcome back', no one asked if I was okay, or if I'd made friends, or if I was happy to be home. My brother Azure was off with this one girl he'd been with for a few years, as if that really surprised me. Next thing I knew, Da—Tenebris was asking me for more money. When I told him I didn't have any whatsoever, one of his buddies beat me bloody and stole the wallet in my pocket. It wasn't even mine; it actually belonged to Bryen, a Sergeant who I'd befriended. Turns out, Tenebris and his friends just wanted beer and cigar money. At the end of the day, I'd finally gotten Bryen's wallet back, patched myself up, and had myself a mug of scotch-coffee. In case you didn't know, scotch-coffee does some pretty bad things to you in larger doses. That's how bad it got throughout the day."

The entire room was silent… as silent as it could get, what with Nora blubbering as if she'd just witnessed a puppy get blown up by its sadistic owner. Even Pyrrha, the Invincible Girl as she'd been called (so he heard), was starting to tear up.

"That is so sad," Nora finally whined as she buried her eyes in Ren's shoulder. Despite being in shock, he was still the classic, stoic Lie Ren. Still, he at least tried to comfort her, even though that was just patting her on the head and shoulder.

The only person not on the brink of tears or in total shock was the victim of the story, Jaune. The scrawny young adult everyone called a 'lovable idiot'. They had no idea what he went through to get to where he was now, and they still insisted that he was nothing more than the dust on their shoes, a weakling.

"Erm… what about when you were tra—ah… MIP stuff," Solis caught himself numerous times after bringing himself out of his shock.

"Eh, they treated us as if we were soldiers-in-training every day. Actually, it was better than what they did to me; when they made me do those embarrassing things, I actually came to enjoy it. I actually made Azure do one of those things once on his birthday a year or two back, and everyone laughed. At least, they did it when he did it; then my birthday came along and it's back to the inhumanity."

Solis whistled in amusement. Ventus was turning red from holding in his laughter, eventually leading to him bursting out in hysterical laughter.

"Well, that won't happen this year, Jaune," Pyrrha promised.

"Yeah, you'll love it," Ventus added. "Cross my heart and hope to fall. Wait, I think I got that wrong…"

Jaune waited a moment or two, then gave out a 'humph'.

"We'll see in a week," Jaune muttered before starting for the door. "I'm going to the forge, try to make myself something nice. Maybe a weapon that's not meant to be a Gatlin gun or Riot Shield."

* * *

"OWW, dammit," Jaune shouted in pain as he seared himself once more. It was around six days since his last duel with Cardin. In their battle promised by Goodwitch, Thor and Nadiya didn't go easy on him, but he _did_ manage to go all-out since he knew they could take it; they were a Dwarf and an Elf, respectively, the duo was almost literally built to take punishment from heavy weaponry. They still beat him, but not before he went pseudo-Centurion (the one state where only his eyes change). It was technically a draw, but they knocked his Aura to the red while he barely nicked the red on theirs.

" _Okay, that didn't work_ ," said Vulcan, the designer aspect of his personality. " _Maybe one solid piece isn't a good idea._ "

"Ach, that hurts," Jaune muttered in pain as he threw one more red-hot piece of metal that was supposed to be a three-point shield in the pile of failures. Each one of them was too small to be a real shield, too big to be part of a set of armor. At least all of them were smooth enough to belong to something. "Okay, what am I going to do with all these? What. Am I going. To do."

" _These all look like they belong to some bigger structure_ ," Vulcan noted. " _Perhaps we could use them to make a multi-functional shield?_ "

" _What sort of shield_ ," Sentinel questioned Vulcan. Jaune was grateful that Sentinel's plan at Initiation was successful, but now he couldn't get the embodiment of combat wisdom to stop arguing with Vulcan.

" _I don't know, one that can function while in Centurion form while also acting as a shield when not._ "

"Yeah, that'll work," Jaune mumbled aloud, setting to work as he started building. He used only a few Dust circuits in the build, several powered pistons to assist in transformation, and carbon steel as coverage beneath the regular steel plates above.

By the time he was finished, it was almost one in the morning. Still, he'd managed to finish the shield. It was a work of wonder, the new shield: it could turn into both a Roman Scutum and a three-point shield. In three-point mode, as he dubbed it, the image of his symbol was whole but slightly angular, practically mimicking his current shield-sheath; when in the form of the Scutum, the twin golden arches were much larger, glowed brighter, and smoother, as well as accented with dark gray between bright silver. Both forms allowed his forearm to fit in twin straps, as opposed to the singular handle of the Scutum. The glow in Scutum form was caused by the Dust circuitry being activated, which accented the lights and darks of the shield as well as expanding the triangular shield into a rounded rectangle.

Surprisingly, despite how tired he was, he gave the shield a pretty good name: Ancora Magna, translated from Roman Latin to mean 'Great Anchor', though Ancora could be translated to mean 'anchor, refuge, support, or hope'. Exactly what a Centurion was meant to be. Exactly what Jaune was going to be, despite his family practically hounding on him every year. Nothing was going to stop him from fulfilling his duty as a Centurion.

As a test before he returned to his dorm, he activated his Centurion mode and made Ancora transform into a Scutum. Sure enough, the shield did what he wanted it to: the carbon steel turned into a silver color as the regular steel seemed to turn blue. His symbol began to glow brighter than before. Ancora was now a true symbol of hope, shining bright like a lighthouse at night. In fact, it was shining brighter than the Sun did in the middle of the afternoon through a magnifying glass shining through twelve more. Finally, the glow faded, recolored to be blue plates on a silver background with two bright yellow arches painted on. He changed out of Centurion mode to discover that the colors didn't revert back to the ugly steel and carbon colors before. This pleased him greatly.

* * *

That morning…

"Hurry," Jaune heard a female voice say, though it was so garbled in his drowsiness that he could hardly tell what it was saying. "Before he wakes up."

"Don't rush me," said a male voice, clearly aggravated with the female one. "We both know that I can't run faster than you!"

"I wonder if he likes the—," another female began, only to be cut off by another male.

"Nora, please don't say what it is," the second male told Jaune's teammate. "You know he can hear us, even in his sleep."

"It's ten in the morning," Jaune recognized Weiss's voice among the crowd. "What was he doing last night?"

"I don't know," Pyrrha's voice rang smoothly, notifying the sleeping Jaune that he was starting to wake up. "Perhaps he stayed up. He _did_ mention that he dreaded this day."

"Should I wake him up," Yang asked. He heard her grunt as if someone hit her.

"YANG! Let him sleep." That must've been Ruby.

"Besides, that air horn is so last year." AIRHORN?! "Watch and learn, cutie."

Jaune couldn't place the voice with the name on that last one despite being awake, but he didn't have the time to think it out before an ear-popping roar echoed through the room. That roar definitely woke him up, but what made him get out of bed was the disgusting coffee-breath it came with. Jaune was almost doubled over on the floor, coughing to get the scent out of his nose.

"GAH! Whoever just roared in my face, please brush your teeth or refrain from drinking coffee before you wake me up," Jaune pleaded while standing up, the scent of coffee still fresh in his nostrils. "Also, try to keep the volume down; I'd like to be able to hear you when you wake me up next time."

"I can't hear a dang thing," Ventus shouted before apparently running into the doorframe.

"Well, this is one heck of a happy birthday thing," Yang commented. She then held the air horn right next to Solis's ear and pulled the trigger. "And that's for killing my ears."

"Happy eighteenth, Jaune," Nora shouted as she pulled Jaune in for a chest-crushing hug.

"I was right," Jaune wheezed. "I'm gonna die today. Nora, you're suffocating me."

"Oh, sorry."

"You're lucky we don't have classes today," Weiss scolded him. "If we did, I wouldn't tell you what any of the professors talked about."

"That's what a textbook is for," Jaune pushed her commentary off with ease. "And believe me, I've read through that thing so many times I can't get it out of my head; still barely understand it, but now it'll be easier. I guess."

"That's what you get for staying up late to study, bud," Solis commented. Jaune grinned.

"Who says I studied," Jaune said with a deeper voice now that the early-morning gruff was out of the way. He knelt before his bed and pulled out Ancora Magna in its three-point form. "I was busy 'til about one last night making it."

"But Jaune, you don't need a new shield," Pyrrha told him.

"Well, if you think about it, Crocea Mors was made to be a Gatling gun and Riot Shield. I wanted something a bit more… multi-functional.

"Ladies and gentlemen—Ice Queen—."

"Excuse me," Weiss growled as Yang and Solis broke down laughing.

"I am proud to present to you," Ancora transformed into its Scutum form, "Ancora Magna, the Great Hope."

"Great anchor, actually," Weiss corrected him.

"I know Latin, Weiss; Centurion, remember? It's like second nature to me now. Besides, I had to entertain myself somehow, right?

"Anyways, she's designed to go perfectly with my Centurion mode, even amplify it if I wanted. Not only that, but I used Dust circuitry, powered pistons, and a carbon steel cover plate. The first test changed the colors from gray to silver and blue. The twin arches are the only ones that really react to Aura or the Centurion state.

"So… what do you guys think?"

"It… could've waited," Weiss stated honestly, "But it fits you, Jaune. Much better than Crocea Mors or any assault rifle."

"I agree," Pyrrha nodded. "It was also a pretty amazing process, I'm certain. My Semblance activated last night and allowed me to see you working on it in my sleep."

"Ooh," Yang grinned devilishly. "Didja see him shirtless?"

"Uhm, what?" Pyrrha started turning as red as her hair. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Aww, she's blushing," Solis cackled. Jaune almost forgot that the leader of SVTN was more of a jokester now that he'd gotten over the death of Aurora. "She did! She saw him without a shirt. Ooh-oh-ooooooh! She reeeaaally like."

In half a second, Ancora was back in its three-point state and glowing a violent blue and gold. A bright ball of yellow formed underneath the twin arches on the shield. Jaune had it pointed right at Yang and Solis.

"Changing types is not Ancora's only function, you know," Jaune threatened, grinning as if he'd cornered the two jokesters. "Want me to demonstrate? 'Cause I'd love to do that for you."

"Erm, no thanks," Yang swallowed as Solis cowered behind her.

"Hmm… Defensive _and_ offensive," Weiss stared at the shield while Ruby drooled at the disappearing yellow orb. "Not bad, Arc. Not bad at all for someone so inexperienced in Dust circuitry and Aura."

"Thank you, Ice Queen," Jaune used the nickname again.

"Where does that name come from, anyways," Weiss finally snapped.

"Well, you know… you're an heiress… and you've got a pretty cold personality."

"HEY! I do not!"

"Do I need to record you arguing with Yang," Ventus threatened. Weiss turned red in the face as she clenched her fists.

"You have to admit," Blake said as she walked into the room. "You can be rather cold, Weiss. Like it or not, that's how it is."

"SEE?! That's where Ice Queen comes from… Ice Queen."

Weiss growled at Jaune.

"Now can he open his presents," Nora shouted excitedly. Ren groaned in defeat as everyone else chuckled.

"Why not," Solis shrugged. "Let's do the long cylinder first."

"Let Birthday Boy decide," Yang argued. The two walked over to SVTN's dorm and duked it out there, shaking the entire building. Minutes later, the shaking stopped but the sounds of the struggle continued. Thor facepalmed immediately.

"And there they are," he sighed, rolling the 'are' for two seconds straight. "Even Nadiya and I aren't comfortable going there."

"Going where," Ventus and Ruby asked in unison. Thor and Nadiya blushed as though caught 'doing the deed'.

"Just pick one and open it," Nadiya said rapidly, almost speaking Russian (hilariously coincidental, as she rushed saying so).

Jaune took Solis's advice and opened the cylinder first. The gold-tipped sky-blue steel Pilum was currently in its baton form. He noticed that Weiss's family insignia was on the wrapping and taped to the shaft.

"Wow, Weiss," Jaune muttered in awe. "This goes great with Ancora. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she said, trying to cover up her pride and happiness with a scowl.

"Hey, what about that smaller box," Ventus muttered, obviously confused about the red and yellow striped box. It was a small box, 4 inches high and 6-inch width and depth.

Jaune literally ripped the box open, only to blush furiously and step away. The Pilum he gladly called Lancea Veritatis went from a single foot long to 7 feet in a flash, aimed at the interior of the box. He berated himself, thinking he should've taken Solis's and Yang's insignias as a warning.

"What is it," Weiss said worriedly, drawing Myrtenaster. Jaune stabbed the wrapping paper with the insignias and drew them closer to Weiss. "Why does that bother me?"

Blushing furiously in doing so, Jaune used Veritatis to reveal the 'gift'. Everyone in the room turned red except for Ventus and Ruby, whose eyes were covered by Thor and Nadiya respectively. Weiss, upon seeing the 'present', wasn't red just because of seeing it; she was furious with someone, and they were about to pay.

"YAAANG," Weiss shouted, taking the piece of cloth at the end of Veritatis and marching into SVTN's dorm. "DID YOU GO THROUGH MY DRAWERS!"

"Why do you—," Yang started before bursting out laughing, Jaune heard through his pseudo-Centurion form. Veritatis, unlike Ancora, did not change colors or form with the Centurion form.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT," Weiss roared as she practically murdered both Yang and Solis.

"What's going on," Ruby asked quietly. Ventus zipped around in a blur after turning blue. "What was in the box?"

"Yang apparently got in Weiss's underwear drawer," Thor said bluntly, turning redder than Pyrrha's hair.

"There was a camera inside," Nadiya added, holding the bridge of her hose. "Apparently, the goal was to catch Jaune holding Weiss's panties."

"And it woulda worked too," Solis shouted as he stumbled out of his dorm and ran with Yang from Weiss, cackling all the way.

"AW, YANG," Ruby yelled.

"SOLIS," Ventus blurted. "I thought you knew better!"

"Apparently not," Thor muttered. "Next, please."

* * *

After a majority of the legitimate gifts were opened, Jaune had the following: the Awake, Rise, and Unleashed albums of Skillet from Ruby and Ventus; some horror movies from Yang, action films from Solis, classic films from Thor and Nadiya; a Comedy Central collection from Nora; the first half of a book series from Blake, the second half from Ren; and the keys to an old car from Weiss's uncle's collection, car included, collaboratively repaid by Yang, Solis, Thor, Nadiya, Nora, and Ren. The only gifts left were a tall box in the corner, about the size of a full-grown man; and the gift from Pyrrha.

"Well, best get the tall one out of the way," Jaune muttered to himself.

"Hey, what about Pyrrha's gift," Ventus griped. Jaune turned to face the wind mage and his partner.

"Best for last, right?"

He turned back to face the box and was about to start tearing it open before it seemingly came to life and opened itself.

"Aha, gotcha," shouted a familiar friend from the MIP as the teen from within the box tackled Jaune to the ground. "Didja miss me?"

"You got my tailbone," Jaune wheezed.

"Oh, jeez," the fellow soldier cried as he stood up and helped Jaune up. The two stared each other up and down.

"Well, I'll be go to Hell," Solis muttered, slightly battered from Weiss's rage from earlier. "That's your friend, right?"

"How'd you get in there," Jaune asked the soldier.

"Ain't you gonna say you missed me," joked the soldier.

"Whoa, Jaune," Solis joked. "I didn't know you were swinging that way." Two fists came in and clobbered the team leader in the jaw.

"Let me introduce you guys to someone," Jaune began. "Guys. This is Sergeant Bryen Armstrong, the friend from the MIP I told you about.

"Bryen," Jaune led him to his own team. "This is my team. That's Pyrrha, he's Ren, and she is… where's Nora?

"Anyways," he took Bryen to SVTN. "These guys are Team Salvation. Solis, Ventus, and the apparently-married Thor and Nadiya."

"Well," Bryen muttered. "Good to know that the most famous first-year team is a bunch of OP crazies. Let's move on."

"And lastly," Jaune ushered Bryen to RWBY. "This is Team RWBY. Their leader's Ruby Rose. Careful, her sister Yang's pretty protective; she won't even let Ventus near her that much. Not that he really listens, but still."

"If you even think about touching her—," Yang threatened.

"You'll break my nose, eh," Bryen finished. "Well, I'm no pedophile, missy, so you've got nothing to worry about from me. After all, Jaune's brother was _good friends_ with this one girl before they actually hooked up."

Yang immediately glared at Ventus, who turned yellow and started floating. Ruby was already out the window, so Ventus simply flew out the window after her. Probably to play tag or something, Jaune figured.

"Anyways, this is Blake," Jaune continued. "She's pretty quiet, so don't expect her to talk much."

"Well of course she's quiet," Bryen argued. "Never get between a good person and a good book. Or a crazy maniac and a badly-written fan-fiction."

The room was almost filled with laughter, except that it was only Bryen laughing and Blake chuckling.

"Glad you noticed," Blake said before gluing her eyes back to the book.

"Exactly," Bryen emphasized.

"And this is—," Jaune started before Bryen went off on his own.

"Well, if it isn't Weiss Schnee, daughter of Wilhelm, Glyph user," Bryen analyzed Weiss. Weiss's jaw dropped at his analysis.

"How did you know that," she demanded.

"I don't think there's a person alive who doesn't know Weiss Schnee," Bryen said. "I've heard stories about you, but I honestly didn't recognize you. Thought you were in Atlas."

"Then how did you know who I am?"

"The chill in the air."

Jaune chuckled at this.

"Excuse me? Is that where Jaune got that 'Ice Queen' business?"

"No, I felt a literal chill when I broke out of that box. Ice-elemental Glyph users have that effect on me."

"How so," she demanded. He tore off the bandanna on his arm to reveal a flaming _ignis_ rune tattooed to his shoulder.

"Runes aren't so different from Glyphs. If that's not enough, I'm a fire-elemental Rune user."

"Rune user?"

A small _motus_ Rune appeared under him, another right in front of Weiss. Almost instantly, he disappeared in a flurry of yellow particles, reappearing as the yellow particles moved him to the second Rune, this time with his back to her and a hand in the air. An _aurum_ Rune appeared, a small _spiritus_ Rune inside. He swiped his hand in the Runes and turned to her, holding a golden rose.

"A golden rose for a golden woman," he flirted. She almost blushed before taking it, holding it at her side; surprised as she was that he did that, she refused to let it show. "Smell it, if you're not allergic to pollen; it's a living golden rose."

She did so, and immediately her eyebrows shot up. Sure enough, the rose was actually alive; Jaune could smell it from there.

"Wow," Weiss stammered, clearly at a loss for words. "This is… this should be… How did you summon this?"

"Well, Runes are essentially an evolved, more powerful form of Glyphs," Bryen informed her. "And by the way, if you want to use less Aura in making Glyphs, try studying the Glyph type and effect before trying it yourself. Believe me, it works; if I didn't do that, I couldn't have made that rose so easily. Still woulda done it, especially for someone such as yourself. Winter Empress."

 **End**

 **A/N: I've had that in mind for a pretty long while. By the way, Runes are exactly what they sound like: ancient symbols made to represent different elements. The more complicated the Rune and the better it's learned, the more powerful it is. For Weiss, if she could use Runes, hers would be a weak form of** _ **Vis**_ **, the embodiment of energy; either that or a seriously powerful of** _ **gelum**_ **, strong enough to create an entire glacier (BTW, all Rune names are in Latin, or derivations of Latin). With someone as experienced and as powerful as Bryen (derivation of Brian, more on that in future chapters), his most powerful Rune in the fire-elemental is both the strongest form of** _ **igneus mons maxima**_ **(great fiery mountain, the closest I could really get to super volcano) and a decently powerful version of** _ **erysipelas**_ **, which is one translation for Holy Fire, pretty much the most powerful of the fire Runes. In other words, Bryen is pretty much the only one other than Jaune's Alpha Centurion form, Ventus's 'Hyper Sonic' form, and Solis's greatest form (more on that later) who can defeat Cinder with her Maiden power without having to make the ultimate sacrifice or some serious help (medical and battle). And he will prove how badass he is. Just not yet. Trust me, I have a plan for Bryen.**

 **Such a sad story for Jaune. I feel bad… no, I really don't. Okay, I do; even I can pick up on Pyrrha flirting with him in the beginning and middle (and he lost her in the cannon. I seriously hope RT brings her back or Imma have a chat with Monty once I go back to my mini-fort [if he's even down there].).**

 **Are there any Skillet fans out there? Yes? No? Indifferent? Well, I am. And boy, am I excited for their Unleashed album. It's coming out (or came out, depending on when you read this) two days before my B-Day, on August 5! No, my birthday isn't 08/05. It's two days after; August 5 is when the album is released to the public. Check 'em out on Spotify, the pre-released music is under the Singles section: Back from the Dead; Feel Invincible; Stars; and I Want to Live. I'm not going to go all fan boy over this, but MAN ALIVE am I excited.**

 **By the time I'm finishing typing all this, it's almost 2 in the morning. I've got to get to bed. See you all next chapter. Texas, out.**

 **(Chapter written July 25)**


	9. Chapter 9

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 9: Fast as Fire

* * *

(Jaune POV)

The fact that Bryen was flirting with Weiss in my room was pretty blush-worthy, but seeing him in the first place was very surprising. I was glad that he was here.

"Say," Nora said out of nowhere, surprising everyone minus Ren and Bryen. "We forgot about Pyrrha's present."

The next thing I knew, she'd shoved the small box in my hands. Ren pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head as everyone wondered how Nora stayed hidden so well.

"Okay Nora," I squeaked, sounding like a pig with anger issues. I took care not to tear the paper, as it was folded in such a way that it wouldn't require tape. Inside the wrapping and the box was… I started to choke up when I saw it.

"What is it brother," Bryen asked, concerned for me. I pulled out the gift and looked at it for a while. It was a necklace, skinny chain with small links, whose main ornament was unbelievable: it was a triple-pendant necklace, with Luther's Rose in the middle, the Arc Family sigil to the left, and a side view of a lion head to the right. Luther's Rose was rose gold for the petals, white gold for the cross, and normal gold for everything else. The Arc sigil was the bright yellow brass on both arches, beveled and rounded with care. The lion head looked like it was made of silver with thin gold detail marks on the eyes and mane, giving it the appearance of white gold. Luther's Rose was the largest pendant of the three with a 1.5" diameter, followed by the Lion at 1" mane to snout, and finally the Arc sigil at a half-inch largest arch.

"Wow," I muttered softly. I couldn't believe it. This necklace was so beautiful. I immediately began to wonder if the Spartan made it herself. "Pyrrha, did… did you make this yourself?"

The Invincible Girl blushed and looked away for a moment, then nodded after a few moments of silence.

"Do you like it," she asked me. I unhooked the back of the chain, wrapped it around my neck, and clasped the ends together. I nodded, smiling the whole time.

"Thanks guys," I said, grinning bigger than I had in a rather long while. "This has been a pretty good birthday so far. Now let's get something to eat. Or did you already?"

A loud crunch from Ventus eating a bag of chips answered his question temporarily. Nora's stomach growled loudly while Weiss facepalmed, leaving a red mark where her hand hit her forehead.

"These morons decided to wait until you woke up and opened all these gifts," Weiss griped. "I on the other hand already went down and ate something."

"I didn't really need to," Bryen mumbled a response. "Besides, I had an excuse—I've been in that box for about ten hours now."

"Oh really," Weiss challenged. "And here I thought you shipped yourself here."

"Technically I did," he answered. "I got on the airship and snuck into you guy's room, got in that cardboard box, and just waited."

"And did you eat anything prior?"

"Didn't need or want to. The guys just bought a bunch of burgers and I decided to help 'em out and be nice."

"Which 'guys' are you talking about?"

"My pals at the police station."

"Humph. If only you actually worked with the police."

"You're right, I don't work _for_ them, nor do I work with them. I just happen to do what they do exactly when they do, and they just so decide to pay me for the work."

"Do you really still have that much attitude? You really haven't changed at all."

"And you haven't lost any of that snarkiness, I see."

"Wait, what's going on," Ventus muttered aloud. Blake, the know-it-all of the group, shrugged as if she had no clue. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going on, and Weiss was going to kill me for speaking.

"The Armstrong Machinery, Steel, and Electronics Corps and the Schnee Dust Company are both popular for helping Atlas build their robots," I explained while the two heirs bickered. "Bryen is the sole inheritor of AMSEC, just like Weiss is heiress to the SDC. Turns out, Wilhelm Schnee and Aiden Armstrong wanted an alliance so they tried to get the two to erm…. 'hook up', for lack of a better term. At first they forced Bryen to flirt with her so much that she couldn't take it. And he didn't even want to; he really just wanted to be her friend or ally. Now that he's back, I guess she still thinks that he doesn't really care for her."

"It's not that I think he doesn't care for me," Weiss called me out. "It's simply because he only flirts with me because he was forced to. It's probably just some grand scheme to absorb my family business."

Bryen looked down at this, his orange eyes turning a dark red like a dying ember. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and let out a heavy sigh.

"Just because they wanted it doesn't mean I did," my old friend almost whispered. Weiss scoffed at his saying this, obviously not believing him. She was about to continue before part of Team SVTN intervened.

"Can we stop arguing for, like, two seconds here," Thor shouted with a heavy Scottish accent. "The birthday boy's got to eat, you know. So let's go and grab something to eat already."

The tall dwarf proceeded to grab me by the arm and pull me towards the cafeteria, followed shortly by Nadiya dragging Pyrrha by the wrist in hot pursuit. Soon, everyone in my team's dorm was following me, dragged humorously by a top-heavy adult with a cartoonish large hammer strapped to his back. I didn't even get a chance to grab Ancora and Veritatis, though luckily Ventus was able to grab it in a whirlwind before leaving the dorm.

* * *

(Ventus, 1st person)

Jaune's birthday thus far was relatively uneventful outside of all the insanity. Yang going crazy scared me into my Pure Light side, which is on the verge of impossible for me at the current moment in time. Ruby raced out the window, through which I literally flew and waited at the base of the tree with Ruby until Yang's pseudo-rage calmed down. After all, I'm not ready to die just yet.

Now that Jaune's going to the cafeteria, I decided to rush out the window with his new shield and spear, following Ruby to our destination. Like lightning, we raced to the mess hall and—.

I felt it hard to hold back an 'oof' when I tripped over this one guy's boot… wait, I don't remember seeing him there while I was running. At least I spared Jaune's toys and sent them to him via cyclone. I looked up from the ground to see this guy in some cultural outfit offering Ruby a rose, flames licking the ground behind him. How'd he manage that? Wait a sec…

" _Una hermosa rosa para una mujer hermosa_ ," said the young man as he tipped up his sombrero, revealing a cocky grin and fire-red eyes. Ruby was flattered, to which I just rolled my eyes. "May I have your name, _Señorita_?"

"Hold the phone, buddy," I shouted, stepping between him and Ruby. "I saw you disappear while I was running. Of course, that could just be me running near the sound barrier, but I barely saw you before I tripped. And here you are, holding a rose after leaving a trail of fire behind you. That makes me a bit suspicious… what's your name?"

"I believe you already know me, _Señor_ Zephyro," said the boy. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, still not recognizing him. He then ran literal circles around me at well over Mach 2, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Even though I now recognized him, I could hardly breathe from the flames. In response, I summoned a whirlwind around myself just in time to see him sweeping Ruby off her feet in almost every sense.

"Yo, Speedy," I called out to my rival. "I hope you realize that messing with her will make her sister wanna kill you. You know that, right?"

"And no matter how hard she tries, she will never catch me," said Speedy. He turned to Ruby. "I shall see you again, _mi rosa_."

He disappeared with a slang of Spanish words and a burst of fire on his tail. Ruby managed to shake herself out of it before staring at me in total confusion.

"Do you know this guy," she asked me, obviously head-over-heels for the Spanish Speedster. I nodded, glaring at the trail of fire.

"Sadly, yes I do." She gave me a perplexed look. "He's a notorious speedster, Robin Hood in a sombrero if you ask me. Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, but faster than the human eye can track. Scary part is that he's as human as you and I. They call him the Spanish Speedster of Atlas, but his real name is Speedy Gonzales."

"How do you know this much about him," she asked me. I shrugged before huffing in defeat when she gave me that curious look once more.

"Back when I was still racing under Ben, we ran into Speedy. Ben saw how fast he was and challenged him to a foot race around Vale. Speedy agreed and it was over in a half-second: Ben was a quarter of the way around the city when Speedy looped around it the second time. And you know how fast Ben is, right?"

Ruby nodded, totally in awe with Gonzales's speed.

"What's worse, he robbed us both blind so fast that even Ben had a hard time seeing him. I had no idea who it was at the time, only knew that there was a burning hole where my wallet should've been in my pocket.

"All I'm saying is be careful around him," I finalized. "Speedy may be soft for the ladies, but his dominant loyalties lie in himself and his people. Do not underestimate him."

That evening, we were having a picnic in a nearby park in Beacon when things went downhill fast. I was near JNPR's towel, eating a pack of Doritos, when time slowed down for me. I was able to see Speedy blaze through, steal Jaune's cake, and some necklace Jaune got from Pyrrha; he tried to grab my Doritos before I tossed them in the air and grabbed them all in one slow motion jump. All JNPR saw was a blue blur fly up into the air and a rush of hot air as Speedy passed by.

"Ventus," Nora shouted at me. "Did you eat Jaune's cake?"

"Dammit all, Gonzales," was all I said, clenching my fists to keep calm. A dark blue fog surrounded me as my anger began to get the better of me. I zipped home at the speed of sound and grabbed the backup basket I packed just in case Speedy did what he just did.

"Glad I brought extras," I said as playfully as I could when I reached JNPR's towel. I looked over to see that everyone but RWBY's towel was robbed as well. This guy was getting on my nerves and fast.

* * *

(The next day)

I had just grabbed my breakfast and was about to sit down when Speedy rushed past me, almost burning my feet when I stepped on the flames. I was immune to fire anyways, so I had no problems with him doing that—it's what he did last night that I had a bone to pick with him on. I stomped over to him, where he was flirting with Ruby and running circles around Yang. He tried running past me again, only to receive a fist to the face at well past the speed of sound as I changed from silver to blue. That should've broken his nose, but he only stumbled back a few feet. Almost everyone present, even Cardin, stared in awe at what just happened; not even Ben was able to land a hit on him, yet I just did.

"You're here because of me, aren't you Speedy," I demanded. Still surprised that I actually hit him, he nodded with a grin.

"It seems I have a new challenger," he called out to the crowds. Several people gasped in fear, as he was known to leave those he beat laying in pain in some ditch with Grimm surrounding them—exactly what happened to Ben a few years ago. I shot him a glare with green eyes.

"If it's a race you want, it's a marathon you'll get," I growled. I proceeded to shout to those in the cafeteria: "I hereby challenge Speedy Gonzales to a race around Vale and Beacon. Twice. Mach 1 is the minimum speed limit." Everyone stared at me in shock and horror. Not only did I challenge Speedy to a race, I called him out to a marathon. One which even I wasn't certain I could win.

"If I win, you'll wish you never challenged me," Speedy grinned devilishly. I gave him a daring glare in return.

"Winner is officially the Fastest Thing Alive," I pushed the limits. "You accept this challenge?"

"I accept. 5 this evening. Get ready to lose, _Señor_ Zephyro."

(5 that evening, Vale)

"You sure you want to race this guy," Jaune asked me. "I mean, he beat your mentor-friend-guy, so he could easily beat you. Can't he?" I smirked and gave him a thumbs up.

"He hasn't seen real speed yet," I said, cocky as ever. "In fact, this time I might actually push my limits. Wish me luck."

I got in a running position as Speedy did the same. He tipped his sombrero to me in a sign of 'good luck'. I simply wiped my upper lip in a dismissive way, cocky grin ever-present.

"May the faster of us win with dignity," he said, reminding me of his race with Ben only a couple of years ago. I glared at him, then looked ahead at my path.

"Ready," Yang called out, holding her hands in the air. Both of us went to a serious mindset as we lined up at the starting/finish line.

"Set," Ember Celica wrapped around Yang's arms. I closed my eyes and prepared my body for the fastest run I've ever done while trying to push aside my fears.

She fired off a round from each gauntlet, then tried to get out of the way as a cloud of dust covered the start/finish line. The race was over in a second, with the winner standing over his challenger with pride.

 **End**

 **A/N: I feel like I kind of rushed that. I have a plan for that, but for now I'll just go with the excuse that Ventus's mind works as fast as he is capable of running and his legs just have to catch up. I feel that's how 'baby Sonic' would've felt. Anyways, do you like the image for this fic? Tell me in a review.**

 **SHN (Super Huge News): I have officially posted my first eBook/novella to Amazon Kindle, though technically I posted it back in July. It's called 'The Casebook of C.I. Oakwood', as cheap as they get (meaning 99 cents as I couldn't find a 'free' option. Sorry, I tried). Go check it out, it's pretty good for a first proper novel/la.**

 **Anyways, I've got to go and post up on some other fics. And go look at my YouTube Channel on 9/11, I'll be posting a Tribute Speedpaint there right on the date. The time will vary depending on when I get around to it, but I feel oddly proud of it. Be sure to mark it down on your calendar. Channel Name: Joshua Clark (Face-First Gaming). Texas out.**


	10. Chapter 10

All for One, One for All

Part 2: Heroes United

Chapter 10: Fast as Fire, Pt 2

* * *

When the dust settled, everyone could see Speedy holding his cloak together at the waist with his left hand, keeping his sombrero on his head with his right. Although no one could really tell, he was breathing rather heavily for someone like him. Meanwhile, Ventus was lying on his back, clutching his neck and head as if he ran into something; as it turns out, there was a dent in a frying pan held out by Thor as a joke.

"Who crossed first," Ruby asked aloud. Solis shrugged while Thor chuckled at Ventus's misfortune. Comparatively, Speedy was only mildly exhausted whereas Ventus was only sore because of Thor's stunt.

"Speedy," Yang said, scaring Ruby initially. "No, maybe it was Ventus. Dammit, I can't tell; they were moving too fast."

"Lucky for you," Weiss cut in. "I happen to have access to a high speed camera. And of course, being the smart person I am, I recorded all of it."

"And if that doesn't work," Bryen added. "There's always my visual prowess for _mobilitas magna_. I can always project my vision via _lux_ -powered hologram, should the need arise."

"Oh, I'm sure my camera caught it," Weiss grumbled at her rival.

"Maybe so, but let's stay on the safe side and keep two sets of eyes on it at once. Mechanical, in your case."

Weiss growled at Bryen and proceeded to punch him in the arm.

"Okay, enough talk," Solis snapped, starting to show fangs at his frustration, more than likely because he couldn't see it as fast as it was. "All of that happened in a split second. Like, one moment I see them at start, then about a hundred milliseconds later Ventus hits the pan and Speedy's stopped. Can you tell us who the holy Hell won?"

"Hmm, that depends," Bryen muttered. "What's at stake here?"

"Ventus versus Speedy, foot race," Solis explained. "Speedy wins, he gets Ruby all to himself, since he can outrun Yang. Ventus was probably jealous because Speedy was flirting with her before the challenge. So yeah, that's what's at stake."

"Oh," Bryen trailed off, scratching his neck awkwardly. "That would be an issue to solve."

"So who won," Yang growled, cocking her gauntlets once more as she marched over to the two with red eyes. Weiss raised her hands in surrender, wide-eyed at Yang's apparent anger. Bryen kept his stoic-ish expression, unfazed by her rage.

"Calm down and I'll show you," Bryen countered. Yang threw a flaming punch, caught and extinguished with ease by Bryen. "I can safely say I've been through the darkest depths of Hell and beyond, and I'm still my old self. I doubt your experiences come close to the dark side of Purgatory, and you've changed quite a bit from them. Your anger is like a gentle breeze to me. Now, calm down and let us show you, or I _will_ show you the first level of Hell. Do I make myself clearer than glass?"

"While you two are busy killing each other, I'm going to find out what the camera caught," Weiss said calmly. She proceeded to slow down the footage to its minimum speed and played it back on the camera's built-in screen. Still the two runners were too fast to see clearly, and the footage only slowed it down 40 times slower than reality. The two seemed to reappear simultaneously once again.

"Okay fine," Yang shouted, still frustrated. "But you'd better do it quick."

"Break a leg breaking my legs," Bryen joked, earning himself a few chuckles. He clapped his hands together, rubbed them, and held them out palms facing forward. "Okay, let's see how rusty I am with _lux_."

He wrote the symbols for fire and air with his Aura, then somehow combined them. The combined Rune slammed into a brick wall and expanded into a rectangular screen of pure light. It immediately began playing from a third party perspective:

As soon as Yang's gauntlets went off, the two runners darted off at nearly the speed of sound. The screen had to split in two as Ventus darted off at the speed of lightning on its return stroke, glowing bright yellow in the meantime. Both screens showed the runners in their perceived times. Speedy managed to cross the line first only because Ventus had crossed the entire world once and slowed down just before running into Thor's frying pan at a third of the speed of light, reaching the same point milliseconds before Ventus blasted by. Combined with that, Speedy took a shortcut through the middle of the city.

"Wait, so who won," Solis asked, totally dumbfounded. "The rules were whoever crossed the line first with the fastest speed, but it's split between the two. Who should win?"

"I would say it's a draw," Yang said, beginning to calm down from the fact that Speedy didn't outright win. "But I'd prefer to say Ventus because of a few reasons."

"Which are," Nadiya asked, placing her hands on her hips after forcing Thor to pick up Ventus, who had a concussion from the impact. Yang counted them out on her fingers as she went.

"First off, I trust Ventus more than a stranger like Speedy. Secondly, the race was for who was the fastest, and Ventus totally hit that mark. And thirdly, didn't you see Speedy cutting through the city instead of going around? Sure, Ventus didn't follow the track either, but he took the long way and could've met Speedy in the middle had Mister Fire-foot didn't take the easy way. And Thor hit him with a frying pan."

"Speaking of which, where'd you even get that," Weiss demanded. Ren automatically marched up to Thor and whacked him upside the head with his pan, the same pan Ventus accidentally dented. "Don't bother telling me how you took it, I doubt I want to know."

"So who won," Speedy huffed heavily. "I think I won. I won, right?"

"Kentucky steak dumpling popcorn," Ventus muttered incoherently, hanging upside down from Thor's shoulder. He rubbed his head and uncrossed his eyes before looking around. "Dear Lord Jesus, what'd I hit? Why am I hanging like a bat?" He sniffed twice before grunting and plugging his nose. "Oh GOD, what's that smell?"

"Sorry," Thor laughed at his own fart joke. "I've been helping Jaune in the forge again."

"Anyways," Yang interrupted Thor. "You did cross first, but Ventus was faster and took the long way, albeit only once. I think this one goes to Ventus."

* * *

(Later that evening, Cafeteria)

"Remember the first day of classes," Nadiya asked, laughing from some of the jokes told by her fiancée/husband, Bryen, and Solis. "When Weiss hated Ruby's guts and tried to volunteer for the demonstration?"

"Oh yeah," Jaune shouted. "That's when he 'volunteered' me, tried to show my Centurion State to the class."

"And as it turned out, you were dead asleep from using it the day before, if I recall," Thor mentioned. "So instead he invited basically all of Salvation to the plate and told us to use teamwork on a single pig. A pig, of all the things in the world, he threw us a pig."

"Wow," Bryen chuckled. "Must've been a big porker."

"Oh no, a wee little squealer. So I just dropped the hammer, and it just so happened to fall on the pig. He was all prideful and boastful about how he'd make us huntsmen yet, and I just told him if Grimm were parts of an animal, that porker was bacon."

The entire table burst into laughter, remembering the incident.

"So he eventually threw an entire Ursa at us, and I again dropped the hammer. You should've seen the look on that old man's face, he was just so mad at me. And he yelled at me 'why're you killing 'em all with your hammer?' I told him I wasn't swinging it, that I was dropping it. And he told me to prove it and tried to beat me with his musket-ax thing, and boy, you should've seen the look on his face. I dropped the hammer on his arse."

"He must've been so mad," Bryen muttered. Solis shook his head, laughing his head off.

"Oh no, he didn't let his hammer go, drop it; he brought the hammer down on 'im, dropped it. Poor ol' Port was swearing up and down at Thor for two weeks straight. I don't think he was happy about that."

"Oh, Jesus."

"Hey, has anyone seen Ventus," Ruby asked out loud.

"So, you must be the fellow speedster," an unknown voice said from behind her. She jumped up and shrieked, only to see it was Ventus with someone else. "Sorry about that, name's Ben. Ventus's old mentor. I was just tellin' him 'bout how I faked my loss with… unexpected results, and he's been tellin' me all about you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, he's been goin' on for about two full minutes talkin' ten miles a minute. I dunno what's got him goin' like this, but you've gotta be doin' somethin' to drive this fella up the wall for ya."

"C'mon, Ben," Ventus griped. "She's just a good friend; it's not like we're something special or anything."

"Oh, but you wanna be, don't ya?"

"BEN! You're just as bad as Sol and Yang!"

"Who're they again?"

Ventus screamed in frustration, turning redder by the minute. Solis and Yang both waved to Ben, letting him know who they were.

"Well I'm sorry I didn't know," Ben griped at Ventus. "You were only tellin' me about your redhead friend here. Ooh, nice rhyme." He proceeded to put Ventus in a headlock and give him a painful-looking noogie.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey, knock it off. Calfrope, calfrope!"

* * *

(The next day)

"Our next match will be against," Glynda trailed off as she looked through her list of students. "How about Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc." Cardin audibly groaned.

"Come _on_ , Goodwitch," the mace-wielder complained. "You know he can't win without that goody-two-shoes know-it-all having his back all the time. He's weak even with that bitch of a partner."

"Challenge accepted," Jaune stood up immediately before anyone could respond. "I'll make sure you regret saying that, Cardin." He cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck side to side. "Good luck, 'cause you'll need it."

"Break a leg, wimp," Cardin taunted. The Centurion only turned to get changed in the locker room.

"Even that won't save you, Cardin," Jaune warned. "You've pushed the line, and that will not go unpunished. I'll see you in the arena."

* * *

The bell sounded, initiating the fight. Cardin swung his mace as hard as he could at Jaune, only managing to bounce it off of Jaune's new chestplate. A gift from his friends in the Mars Internal Project, it was Roman/Medieval Knight armor designed to transform from Roman Centurion armor to armor reminiscent of Medieval Knight armor. He had redesigned his old armor to contain and transform into his new gift.

Cardin went to swing once more, blocked by Ancora in its Scutum state. This went on and on until Jaune decided to end the fight. Using his Phi Centurion State, he leaped away and transformed Lancea Veritatis into its Pilum state. He then lunged forward a single step, preparing to hurl Veritatis, and launched his javelin at Cardin. The Pilum caught its target by a ring in the armor, and dragged Cardin with it until it impaled itself in a wall in its path. He wasn't in the yellow yet, though he was definitely dazed from Veritatis.

Jaune then pulled off his greatest move yet: Ancora formed a blue and gold ball of energy in front of it and began glowing in the same colors as the ball grew to the size of a basketball over the course of ten seconds. The orb shrank with its particles before blasting forward as two intertwined beams of light. Having been aimed at Cardin to begin with, the attack struck him in his armored chest, leaving his Aura in the red when the smoke cleared. The Centurion lurched forward and collapsed, completely tuckered out from his attack. Jaune won because his Aura was barely in the yellow, but he didn't feel like he won. Sure, Cardin was taught a lesson, but Jaune was way too tired to argue. Exhaustion does that to you, and he was beyond exhausted from his work in the forge.

"And Jaune Arc is the winner," Glynda declared. The only response was Jaune snoring like a Beowolf, earning him several laughs. Cardin groaned and tried getting up, only to fall back down.

"Nap time," Ventus joked, getting nothing in return. "Oh come on, has no one seen that? That little cheesy chloroform joke video?"

"That was beyond cheesy," Solis growled, rearing back and slamming Ventus into the ground. "It passed stupid and beyond rude about three weeks ago. Speaking of which, I have a better method than any chemical."

"And that is," Yang asked, both curious and hinting at something. He cracked his knuckles before picking up an unconscious Ventus up and setting him in the nearest seat. This made her grin. "Challenge accepted."

"Hold on," Nadiya paused. "I thought you two wanted something a little more… intimate."

"What'd you think we were doing on Jaune's birthday," Solis demanded.

"The horizontal Tango," Thor butted in, causing both hotheads to blush furiously.

"Actually, I was trying to break her arm off," Solis explained, glaring at Yang from the corner of his eye. She returned fire with red eyes.

"And I was trying to choke him to death," she added.

"Really," Weiss demanded. "Because I saw Yang sitting on Sunset's lap."

"Her arm was locked in my jaws, and she had her other hand around my throat," Solis corrected. "Seriously though, that was a pretty worthwhile prank." The Schnee swatted the nonexistent fly on her forehead, leaving a red mark.

"And I wonder why we can't have nice things," she complained. "Then I always remember: it's because you two always break everything."

Yang and Solis fought in the arena next, leaving neither as the victor and proving to the crowd that they hated each other's guts to the extremes. In fact, Bryen was the victor when he shot a fireball at the two to prevent the auditorium's destruction.

* * *

 **End**

 **A/N: Sorry I haven't rolled out another chapter in a while. I just got distracted with some things here and there. I will try to remember the plotline I had laid out, and I will get back to you all shortly. In the meantime, have a nice week everyone. Texas out for God only knows how long.**


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